From the beginning, we had this Venn diagram. There is creativity on one side and productivity on the other. At the heart of it all, as you might have guessed, is Canva. We truly believe that people on the productivity side actually want to be more creative, and that people on the creative side also want to be more productive. And it turned out to be the perfect place. This is a huge gap in the market that we saw early on and we continue to be very focused on it.
what about you? How does Canva use Canva?
Very broadly, literally on everything. Our engineers create engineering documents in Canva, we all work together, and I create all product mockups in Canva. I’ve used it for decision-making materials, vision materials, onboarding, recruiting, hiring, etc. For example, I use Canva extensively.
The highest valuation in 2021 was $40 billion. A year later, this was reduced to $26 billion. what happened?
I think it was purely a macro change in the market. During that time, Canva continued to grow rapidly in both revenue and active users. We have been profitable for seven years. [switched to caring] In terms of profitability, fortunately we were already trending that way. Over time, markets value different things, and markets become bubbly or frothy. We are always focused on building a strong, lasting company with a great foundation that serves the community. So it doesn’t really matter what’s going on in the market.
You have committed to contributing 30% of Canva (the majority of your and Obrecht’s equity) to the good of the world. What does that mean to you?
It seems absolutely ridiculous that we have such prosperity around the world and yet there are still people whose basic human needs are not met. The first step we took was to partner with GiveDirectly to donate money directly to people living in extreme poverty. [Canva has so far donated a total of $30 million to people living in poverty in Malawi.] I love the empowerment of being able to spend money on communities, families, and basic human needs, like sending kids to school and giving people a roof over their head. We have a very long way to go, but we’re really excited to have started the process.
You aim to reach 1 billion users. What are your plans to get there?
It seemed completely ridiculous when I set it as a goal a few years ago, but as the years have gone on, it seems less ridiculous. To reach 1 billion, we need about 1 in 5 internet users in each country. It now accounts for one in six internet users in the Philippines and one in eight internet users in Australia. In Spain, it’s 1 in 11 people and in the US, it’s 1 in 12 people. So we’re now at 200 million people, so we’re one-fifth of the way to 1 billion, and if we can continue to grow as fast as we’ve been, then hopefully we’ll get there.
Are there any plans for an IPO?
That’s definitely something on the horizon.
This article was first published in WIRED UK January/February 2025 edition.
