Build story · Australia · 2007–2024
Canva: democratising design from Perth
Melanie Perkins, rejected by over 100 investors, built a simple browser-based design tool that became one of the world's most valuable private software companies.
By Shivam Bhandari · Reviewed 31 October 2026 · How we write
by the numbers
- Investor rejections
- over 100
- Launch
- 2013
- Profitable since
- 2017
- Peak valuation (2021)
- about $40 billion
- Monthly users (2023)
- over 170 million
What happened
As a university student in Perth, Melanie Perkins taught classmates to use professional design software and saw how hard it was. In 2007 she and Cliff Obrecht started Fusion Books, an online tool for designing school yearbooks, which proved the idea of simple, template-led design.
Raising money from Silicon Valley was slow: Perkins has said more than 100 investors turned her down. With co-founder Cameron Adams she launched Canva in 2013 — a drag-and-drop editor with templates for social posts, presentations, posters, and more. The free tier made it easy to try; Canva Pro and team plans earned revenue.
Canva grew through word of mouth and search, as people looked for templates for specific needs. It has been profitable since 2017, unusual for a fast-growing software company. Its valuation peaked at about $40 billion in 2021, and by 2023 it had more than 170 million monthly users.
Timeline
- 2007
Fusion Books proves template-led design.
- 2013
Canva launches.
- 2017
Canva becomes profitable.
- 2021
Valued at about $40 billion.
what made it work
- Made a professional task simple for non-experts.
- Free tier plus templates created viral, search-driven growth.
- Proved the concept in a small niche before going broad.
- Persistence through repeated rejection.
the lesson
Simplifying an expert tool for everyone else can open a market far larger than the expert one.
Apply it to your business
- 1Who struggles to do what experts in your field find easy?
- 2Templates and defaults remove the fear of a blank page.
- 3Test the idea in a small niche first.
Laws at work in this story
Figures are rounded and drawn from public reports, company filings and widely cited coverage at the time. Check the company's latest filings before relying on any number.