5. Canva
Founders: Melanie Perkins (CEO), Cliff Obrecht, Cameron AdamsLaunched: 2012Headquarters: Sydney, AustraliaFunding: $589 millionValuation: $32 billionKey Technologies: N/AIndustry: Enterprise technologyPrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 3 (No. 6 in 2024)
Canva has become a go-to tool for anyone needing to create a sleek presentation deck, flyer, or social media post. But the Australian design platform, which aims to "democratize design," is now setting its sights far beyond individual creators.
"Our goal was to take the entire design ecosystem, integrate it into one page, and then make it accessible to the whole world," co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins told CNBC.
The idea came from her own experience. As a teenager in Australia, Perkins would earn extra money by teaching other students how to use design programs offered by Microsoft and Adobe. Far from intuitive, students found the platforms "crazy hard." Perkins felt there had to be a better, more straightforward solution.
"People would have to spend an entire semester learning where the buttons were, and that seemed completely ridiculous," Perkins told CNBC.
Canva's bet on simplicity has paid off. The platform now serves more than 220 million monthly users across over 190 countries. In 2024, its annual recurring revenue reached $3 billion — roughly double that of 2023 — as visual content became essential in modern workplaces.
It's also made a major push into the enterprise space. More than 95% of the Fortune 500, including HP and Snowflake, now use Canva. Canva Enterprise, made for teams of 100 or more people, includes security, reporting and brand management. Canva's expansion into the enterprise pits it against heavyweight competitors like Adobe Express, CapCut, and fellow Disruptor 50 firms Figma and Notion.
To bolster its offerings, Canva made several high-profile acquisitions in 2024. It acquired Affinity, a suite of professional design tools, and Leonardo.AI, which built Australia's first foundational AI model. These additions deepen Canva's capabilities in advanced editing and generative AI. Canva's platform now goes beyond design, including coding, photo editing, spreadsheet and AI chatbot features.
On the corporate side, Canva opened new offices in San Francisco, Austin, and London, expanded its workforce by nearly 40%, and brought on Kelly Steckelberg, former finance head at Zoom, who helped the company go public in 2019, as CFO.
Investors have taken notice. The company has raised $589 million to date from investors such as Blackbird Ventures, Felicis Ventures, and Goldman Sachs and was recently valued at $32 billion.
Still, Canva faces broader questions about the use of AI in design. The company has embraced generative AI, prompting some critics to raise concerns about content safety, user safety and data use for AI training, but the company says it has earned users trust over the years.
Perkins is optimistic about the potential for AI to be a democratizing force for Canva's 220 million customers around the world. "I think it's critically important that as the world of humanity, we use AI to truly lift up every single person who lives here, to help everyone have their basic human needs being met," she told CNBC. "And I think there is a huge opportunity for us to be dreaming bigger about what we want with technology accelerating. I think there is a huge opportunity to rethink what we're doing with it and ensuring that it's serving our needs."
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