Canva
 | |
Type of site | Design software |
|---|---|
| Owner |
Melanie Perkins Cliff Obrecht Cameron Adams |
| Slogan(s) | "Amazingly simple graphic design software" |
| Website |
www |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | 2012 |
Canva is an online graphic design platform. It offers free access to a wide assortment of design tools and options, as well as premium options for paying customers.
Beginnings and early history
Canva was founded in 2012 in Sydney, Australia by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams.[1][2][3][4] The initial idea came about when Perkins was teaching graphic design programs at the University of Western Australia and found that students struggled to learn the basics.
Partnering with co-founder Obrecht, the pair launched Fusion Books, an online design tool for students and teachers to create their own yearbooks. They soon realized that the technology they'd developed had much broader applications, and therefore they launched Canva together with tech co-founder Adams.
Growth
In March 2013, Canva raised a $3 million seed round from top Australian and U.S. investors including Matrix Partners, InterWest Partners, Bill Tai, Lars Rassmusen, Ken Goldman (CFO of Yahoo!) and 500 Startups.[3][5]
In August 2013, the start-up launched its Beta product: a simple drag-and-drop design tool with a library of more than 1 million photographs, graphics and fonts to choose from.[5][6] The tools are for use by non-designers as well as professionals,[5][7] and for both web and print media design and graphics.[8] The website rapidly became popular, with more than 750,000 users in its first year.[9]
In April 2014, former Apple executive Guy Kawasaki joined Canva as the company’s chief evangelist.[10] "Macintosh democratized computers; Google democratized information; and eBay democratized commerce. In the same way, Canva democratizes design," Kawasaki said in regards to his decision.[11] A few months later Canva received a 3.6 million dollar funding round from return investors and new investors: Founders Fund and Shasta Ventures.[12]
Canva opened an office in Manila that August, bringing on board a customer happiness, design and marketing team. In April 2015, Canva raised an additional 6 million dollars in funding.[13]
In October 2015, the company raised $15 million Series A at a valuation of $165 million from existing and new investors, including Hollywood actors Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson.[14]
Products
The company operates on a freemium business model, providing free design tools and access to their library of images and offering additional paid designs, a marketplace for designers and tools specific for companies.[1]
In 2014, Canva launched an iPad application.[15][16] The app gives users full access to Canva’s design tools and library of images. The company also added the Design Marketplace to their website, allowing designers to showcase and sell their work to the user community.[17] In addition, they released "Design School", bringing together a range of educational content including tutorials, a daily blog and workshop materials for Canva users to access free of charge.[13]
In 2015, it launched Canva for Work, a product targeted to businesses.[13][18][19] It allows designers to set up a variety of pre-made templates across varying file formats – presentations, posters, ads, letterheads, social media posts, etc., including a brand kit with the company's logo and color palette.[18] Other members of the organization can then access the designs in a shared folder and customize these items with their own text and graphics.[18]
Forty percent of Fortune 500 companies and 200,000 organizations use Canva in some capacity.[1][13]
As of 2015, Canva employs more than 70 people. There are about 6 million users on canva.com, with over 38 million user-uploaded images and 30 million designs.[16] In addition, over 2,000 video tutorials and 10,000 blog posts have been made about Canva.[16]
References
- 1 2 3 Lim, Jason. Canva Carries Out 7 Year Vision To Disrupt Digital Design Forbes. 2 July 2014.
- ↑ Canva Crunchbase. 19 August 2015.
- 1 2 Perez, Sarah. Canva Raises $3 Million To Make Design Accessible To Everyone Tech Crunch. 19 May 2013.
- ↑ Tay, Liz. This Bizarre Recruitment Pitch Deck Convinced A Senior Google Engineer To Leave For An Australian Start-Up Business Insider. 15 August 2013.
- 1 2 3 Perez, Sarah. "Canva Launches A Graphic Design Platform Anyone Can Use". Tech Crunch. 26 August 2013.
- ↑ Čeština. "Canva". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
- ↑ Handley, Ann (2 September 2014). "Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content". John Wiley & Sons.
- ↑ Hoisington, Corinne (10 June 2014). "Technology Now: Your Companion to SAM Computer Concepts". Cengage Learning.
- ↑ Campbell, Rebekah. "The Problem With Going Into Business With a Friend".
- ↑ Beeche, Mat. Guy Kawasaki on why he wanted to work with Canva Startup Daily. 2 July 2014.
- ↑ Pankaj, Mishra. Canva Raises $3 Million To Make Design Accessible To Everyone Tech Crunch. 16 April 2014.
- ↑ Shu, Catherine. Australian Graphic Design Startup Canva Raises Additional $3.6M Tech Crunch. 21 July 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 Perez, Sarah. Design platform Canva raises 6 million, expands to buesinesses with Canva for Work Tech Crunch. 4 May 2015.
- ↑ Perez, Sarah. Design Platform Canva Scores $15 Million Series A, Valued At $165 Million Tech Crunch. 6 October 2015.
- ↑ Perez, Sarah. Canva brings its easy-to-use design platform to the iPad Tech Crunch. 15 October 2014.
- 1 2 3 Perkins, Melanie. Our Story Canva. 19 August 2015.
- ↑ Russell, Jon. Canva courts design pros with new social features and a marketplace for their work Tech Crunch. 15 November 2014.
- 1 2 3 Sarah Perez, Sarah. "Now With 4 Million Users, Design Platform Canva Launches to Businesses". TechCrunch. 10 August 2015.
- ↑ Perkins, Melanie. Canva User Journey OnStartups. 1 June 2015.