Canva reaches near $50bn evaluation ahead of initial public offering

Homegrown tech darling Canva has reached an evaluation of nearly $50bn following a secondary round of share sales, the company has confirmed ahead of its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO). The online photo and video editing platform increased its value by nearly $10bn from$39.57bn ($US26bn) to $48.7bn ($US32bn) after the secondary sale, which allowed initial investors and employees to sell their shares at eye-watering profits. Chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht, who founded the giant alongside wife Melanie Perkins and Cameron Adams in 2013, said demand for the company’s services was surging, with membership surpassing 200 million active users. “It’s been an extraordinary year for all of us at Canva as we celebrate remarkable growth and increasing demand for our business,” he said. “We’re really excited to be empowering more than 200 million people in 190 countries with the simplicity, access and power of our product. While we’re incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made, we’re just getting started and we’re looking forward to a whole lot more to come.” Despite being worth more than some of Australia’s biggest companies, including Coles, Woolworths, and Telstra, Canva remains privately held, with a public listing on the US Nasdaq unlikely until 2025 or 2026. While Mr Obrecht recently told The Australian that the company was in “no big rush” to launch, he added it “will happen in the coming years, no doubt”. Spruiking the near-$50bn milestone, Canva said it had expanded its team by 1000 new staff this year alone and was used by more than 95 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies. Its annual revenue has also soared to $3.81bn ($US2.5bn) as of October. Canva also acquired Photoshop competitor Affinity in March and launched a new generative AI tool Dream Lab, which is powered through Leonardo.