- Australian graphic design company Canva expands to Europe with new headquarters in London.
- Chief Executive Melanie Perkins said the company is in a “uniquely strong position” to withstand the headwinds of the broader tech industry.
- With a suite of AI-powered tools for creating websites, presentations, and social content, the nine-year-old company stands shoulder to shoulder with tech giants Microsoft and Adobe.
Melanie Perkins, co-founder and CEO of Australian graphic design firm Canva, says she is in a “uniquely strong position” as the business expands into Europe.
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LONDON — Australian graphic design company Canva believes it is in a “uniquely strong position” to withstand the headwinds of the industry as it embarks on expansion in Europe.
The Sydney-based software company opened a new European headquarters in London last month as it competes with tech giants Adobe and Microsoft to attract individual and corporate users to its design suites.
Tech companies have cut jobs over the past year as borrowing costs rise and the economic outlook worsens. But co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins said the nine-year-old company is well positioned amid wider pressures.
“We’ve been profitable for the past six years, we’ve had a good cash balance, and all those things have been really important,” Perkins told CNBC.
Canva, which offers both free and paid tools for designing websites, presentations and social content, had annual revenue of $1.5 billion in the year to May. The company also said it has a cash reserve of $700 million.
Of the 135 million users worldwide, 16% are in Europe. Overall about 15% are paying members, of which 14 million are individuals and 6 million are companies like his WPP, Unilever and Rolls-Royce. The company is now looking to grow in both of these areas.
“We have made our paid products very affordable, so people are moving to Canva instead of leaving it, regardless of what is happening in the macroeconomic environment,” Perkins said. Told about this service.
“We have certainly seen that happening and unfolding over the last few years as economic uncertainty kicked in,” she added.
But Canva, the CNBC disruptor of 2023, is not immune to industry setbacks.
The company’s valuation peaked at $40 billion in 2021, but investors have since lowered it as the outlook dimmed. It also narrowly avoided involvement in the failure of startup Silicon Valley Bank in March.
Meanwhile, the surge in interest in artificial intelligence coincides with the company’s release of a new suite of AI-powered editing, publishing and design capabilities, adding 10 million new users in a month. Earned. Amid the touted rapid growth of the technology, the company has preferred to euphemistically call its tools “magic.”
“The word ‘magic’ is what we’ve been calling things for almost a decade, and that branding is what we’ve stuck with,” Perkins said.
Canva’s new suite of artificial intelligence-powered editing tools includes Magic Edit, which allows you to replace images with AI-generated alternative images.
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Tech experts are increasingly sounding the alarm about the threat AI poses to society, with Tesla CEO Elon Match and ChatGPT maker OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also expressing concern.
Canva has partnered with OpenAI on their Magic Write tool. This tool auto-generates entire texts for presentations and blog posts based on a few word prompts. But Perkins said the company is proceeding cautiously, citing “excessive metrics on trust and safety.”
“There are a lot of terms you can’t use in Magic Write. Nothing medical or political. The industry is still in its early stages, so be careful,” she said.
The creative industry is believed to be at risk of disruption by upcoming technological advances, with some platforms allowing designers to create previously created images and content.
Still, Perkins said he believes these tools are meant to streamline and simplify the design process, which he believes will “greatly enhance” what people can do.
“Every industry goes through a fundamental transformation, and certainly ours is not far from it,” said Perkins. “When new technology becomes available, the industry as a whole has to adapt and everyone has to learn new skills. I think it has happened many times.”
“When we started Canva, people were like, ‘Oh, this is the end of graphic design,’ but it never was. I think there was a lot more demand for visual communication across all organizations,” she added.
As the company celebrates its 10th anniversary in August, it hopes continued adoption will accelerate its ambition to reach one billion users and become one of the world’s most valuable companies.
Asked if such a user target could become a reality within the next 10 years, Perkins said he hopes. However, the company was not very enthusiastic about the possibility of an initial public offering. “I have nothing to say at this point,” she said.
