Canva valuation and funding history
Perth, founded 2013
Melanie Perkins pitched Canva from Perth and heard no more than a hundred times. The idea was not the problem: it became a $40 billion company. In 2012 there was simply no way to reach investors from Western Australia.
Before Canva there was Fusion Books, a school yearbook design tool Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht ran out of her mother's living room from 2007. It made money. It proved people would design in a browser. It was, in every sense, traction.
None of that helped, because nobody who writes cheques was in Perth. The unlock was a kitesurfing retreat in Maui, where an investor introduction eventually led to her third co-founder, Cameron Adams, and to the US funds that finally backed her.
- Founded
- 2013
- Headquarters
- Perth
- Rounds raised
- 5
- Total raised
- $411M
- Latest valuation
- $42B
- Latest round
- September 2021
The whole raise
| Round | Amount | Valuation | Led by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series AOctober 2015 | $15M | $165M | Felicis Ventures |
| GrowthJanuary 2018 | $40M | $1B | Sequoia Capital China |
| GrowthOctober 2019 | $85M | $3.2B | Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Bond |
| GrowthApril 2021 | $71M | $15B | T. Rowe Price, Dragoneer |
| Series FSeptember 2021 | $200M | $40B | T. Rowe Price |
Most recent mark: $42B, set by a employee share sale in August 2025, not by a funding round.
What the numbers say
A hundred investors did not misjudge Canva. Almost none of them ever saw it. That is a distribution problem, not a quality one, and it is the part worth being precise about: the rejections were not a verdict on the company, because the company went on to be worth $40 billion at its 2021 round. Canva says it ended 2025 at around $4 billion of annualised revenue with 265 million monthly users, which are the company's own figures. The head office is still in Australia.
What this means for your raise
- 01
A hundred nos is a reach problem
She was not turned down a hundred times by investors who studied Canva and disagreed. She was turned down by the small number she could physically reach from Perth. Getting in front of enough of the right people is a solvable problem, and it is a different problem from being fundable.
- 02
She pitched a working business, not a plan
Fusion Books ran for years and made real money before Canva existed. When investors finally looked, there was something working to look at. You do not need a finished company, but you do need something they can open.
- 03
The room was the whole bottleneck
Her breakthrough was one room in Hawaii she got into by chance. That is a terrible system, and it was the only one available in 2012. Nobody should have to fly across the Pacific to find their first investor now.
Every one of these started with a first investor conversation.
Find your investorsFrequently asked questions
What is Canva valued at?
Canva was last valued at $42B, set by a employee share sale in August 2025 rather than by a funding round.
How much has Canva raised?
Canva has raised about $411M across 5 disclosed rounds.
Who are Canva investors?
Rounds at Canva have been led by Felicis Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, T. Rowe Price, Dragoneer.
When was Canva founded?
Canva was founded in 2013 in Perth.
Figures are as publicly reported and were distilled from RF Stories issue 3. Valuations move, so treat this as a snapshot rather than a live quote.
