Canva makes staff instant millionaires after $3.6b share sale

Perth-founded graphic design company Canva has finalised a share sale worth nearly $4 billion, making some of its staff and long-time investors instant millionaires.

The sale, understood to be finalised last month, was “oversubscribed” by 150 per cent on its initial target to bring in $US2.4b ($3.6b). It was initially expected to deliver $1.5b.

Handled by Goldman Sachs, the share sale was open to staff who had been awarded shares in the company. The Australian reported the sale made some millionaires, even mid-ranking employees.

Former employees and existing investors also participated in the share sale, which has valued Canva at $26b.

The news came just over a week after Canva acquired UK-based Affinity, with Canva co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht previously saying the purchase was valued at “several hundred million pounds”.

Affinity’s apps will be used to complement Canva’s selection of artificial intelligence-powered tools as the company bolsters its offering of online workspaces.

Cameron Adams, Melanie Perkins and Mr Obrecth founded Canva about a decade ago and have grown it to become the most capable competitor to Adobe, the longtime dominant provider of software for graphics and professionals.

Investors have long viewed Canva as a candidate to go public, though the trio have not discussed plans for doing so.

Canva has now acquired a total of seven companies in Europe, including visual AI startup Kaleido.ai and image providers Pexels and Pixabay, as it aims to expand its presence in the region.

The startup, which has focused on making easy-to-use products targeted at people without formal design training, surpassed $3.2b in annualised revenue and has over 175 million users.

It added over 90 million new users over the past 18 months, boosted by new AI features.