Canva, The Photoshop App For Everyone, Becomes Australia’s Only Startup Unicorn

Good design costs money. And good money mints new unicorns.

Announced late last week, Canva, a startup which boils down design to a mixture of pre-made templates and modern stock art, raised a $40 million Series C. Its last raise, a $15 million Series B, was announced well over a year ago. In total, the startup has raised nearly $83 million, according to Crunchbase. The latest round values the company at $1 billion, putting it on the Crunchbase Unicorn Leaderboard.

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Notably, the woman-founded company is the only startup in Australia that has achieved unicorn status. (Formerly, Australia-based Atlassian held the unicorn designation. It is now a public company.)

Much of this valuation could be attributed to its revenue, which tripled in 2017, and user growth. According to Fast Company, “more than 13 designs are created every minute.” This is likely an important metric. The startup makes money based on how many assets are used in each graphic, with each asset typically costing $1. The design platform startup also launched “Canva for Work,” a subscription service that offers team collaboration and increased access to templates.

Canva has also been known for its ability to attract high-profile talent. For instance, it has hired Guy Kawasaki, known for his evangelist work at Apple and his status as a seed investor during the Web 2.0 boom. Canva has also attracted celebrities as investors, including Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson, both of whom participated in the company’s Series A round.

In its latest round, Canva has added Sequoia Capital to its roster as a lead investor. And a handful of other investors have followed the company through its raises, such as Australia-based Blackbird Ventures, Felicis Ventures, and Matrix Partners.

Given that the company is only on its Series C, and the market for late-stage funding is looking increasingly founder-friendly, the likelihood that Canva will continue to raise additional sums of money is high over the next year or so. In the meantime, the company looks likely to use its new war chest of funds to expand its global footprint and accelerate growth.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias