Australian Design Software Maker Canva’s Valuation Soars To $42B As Employee Stock Sale Goes ‘Oversubscribed’

Canva has launched an employee stock sale valuing the Australian design software startup at $42 billion, a jump of more than 30% from its $32 billion valuation in 2024. 

Employees will be able to sell shares to new and existing investors, including Fidelity Management & Research and JPMorgan Asset Management, Bloomberg reported.

The firm, founded in 2013, is betting on artificial intelligence to drive growth and position itself for a potential IPO. 

In April, Canva rolled out AI-powered features such as a conversation-based photo editor to target corporate clients and compete with Adobe, which is developing its own Firefly AI model, and Figma, valued at $34 billion after its July listing.

“This round has been significantly oversubscribed,” said co-founder and COO Cliff Obrecht, calling it a strong vote of confidence in Canva’s momentum and future scale. 

The company boasts of $3.3 billion in annualized sales and over 240 million monthly active users.

Canva, led by CEO Melanie Perkins, has long been viewed as a top IPO candidate. 

The employee share sale provides liquidity to staff while keeping the company private, a common approach among high-growth startups to retain and reward talent while attracting outside investors.

Retail sentiment toward Canva stream set up on Stocktwits was ‘neutral’ amid ‘normal’ message volume.

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