Canva nears $1 billion stock sale for employees and investors, amidst a surge of private deals

Canva, the design software startup, is reportedly in the final stages of negotiating a deal that would allow long-serving employees and investors to sell over $1 billion in stock to new investors, amidst a surge of private deals. This move comes less than six months after the Australian company orchestrated a similar, albeit smaller, transaction, according to a report from The Information.

In this upcoming deal, Canva itself will not be raising any additional funds. The startup’s valuation is expected to be $26 billion, mirroring the price at which investors sold shares in the previous year.

This transaction marks one of the latest in a series of similar private deals by prominent private tech firms, such as OpenAI, CoreWeave, and SpaceX, where existing shareholders and employees have the opportunity to cash out without the issuance of new shares. Simultaneously, these share sales provide new investors with the chance to enter these companies, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

“Design software startup Canva is nearing a deal that lets longtime employees and investors at the company sell more than $1 billion in stock to new investors, people familiar with the matter said.”

Founded in 2013 by CEO Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams, Canva is a web and mobile platform that enables people to effortlessly craft visually appealing content, even if they lack professional design skills. Its features include a convenient drag-and-drop interface, ready-made templates, and an extensive library filled with images, fonts, and graphics. This makes Canva a versatile tool suitable for both individuals and businesses seeking to create striking visual content without the need for advanced design expertise.

Canva’s software boasts a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, offering an extensive array of templates for presentations, social media graphics, posters, apparel, videos, and more. With a vast library encompassing fonts, stock photography, illustrations, video footage, and audio clips, Canva allows users to turn their ideas into visually stunning creations.

Having secured a significant share of the graphic design market, Canva has become a go-to platform for creative endeavors. The Canva community has contributed to over 7 billion designs, with a remarkable pace of 120 new designs per second. This impressive output is fueled by Canva’s expansive library, featuring over 800,000 templates and more than 100 million design elements, including photos, videos, stickers, audio tracks, and illustrations.

Accessible across desktop, web, iOS, and Android platforms, Canva has garnered support from prominent figures, including former Disney CEO Bob Iger.

The story of Canva’s fundraising is truly inspiring, marked by resilience and determination. Notably, before the launch of Canva, the founder, 35-year-old Melanie Perkins, faced rejection from 100 venture capitalists. Later on, the founders found their breakthrough in 2013 when Blackbird Ventures provided their first investment. From that point on, Canva has gone on to secure more than $870 million through various funding rounds, drawing support from notable investors such as Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, and Bond.

Canva founders