Latest news with #CameronAdams
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
11 New Members Join The Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge
By Thomas Gallagher Cameron Adams, the Australian billionaire cofounder of Canva, and his wife Lisa Miller, have just joined the Giving Pledge. In its largest cohort since 2021, the Giving Pledge announced 11 new signatories in 2025 who have pledged to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes in their lifetime or in their wills. Nine of the new signees hail from the U.S., one from Australia and one from the U.A.E. Six of the new pledgers are members of Forbes billionaires' list and have a combined estimated net worth of $9.3 billion. The wealthiest among them, Cameron Adams, worth an estimated $2.9 billion, is cofounder and chief product officer of graphic design software company Canva. He joins Canva's married cofounders, Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, who signed the pledge in 2021; Adams joined the pledge with his wife Lisa Miller. The couple's Wedgetail Foundation is devoted to conserving and restoring biodiversity. The second wealthiest in the cohort, Drew Houston, worth an estimated $2.1 billion, is cofounder and CEO of file hosting service Dropbox; Houston joins with his wife, Erin. Additional signatories include Syntel founder Bharat Desai ($1.6B) and his cofounder and wife Neerja Sethi ($1B), who support economic mobility, education and entrepreneurship; Square (now called Block) cofounder Jim McKelvey ($1.6B) and his wife Anna; and founder and CEO of Cambridge, Massachusetts life sciences venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering Noubar Afeyan ($1.2B) and his wife Anna Afeyan Gunnarson. Other newcomers include Emirati businesswoman Muna Easa Al Gurg; Joseph Deitch, the founder and chairman of investment adviser Commonwealth Financial Network; venture capitalist Jay Hoag and his wife Michaela, who founded Part the Cloud, which raises funds for Alzheimer's disease research. The Giving Pledge was created in 2010 by billionaire philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett in an effort to address the world's most urgent issues. Fifteen years ago the Giving Pledge launched with 40 American philanthropists. Since then, over 210 signatories have signed on, including some of the world's wealthiest people, such as Elon Musk, worth an estimated $430 billion and Mark Zuckerberg, worth an estimated $221 billion. And the pledge has attracted wealthy philanthropists from around the globe, from India to Indonesia and beyond. The pledge is a promise, not a contract, and those who run the Giving Pledge do not audit billionaires' giving. Some signers, like Charles Feeney (d. 2023), cofounder of Duty Free Shoppers, gave away far more than half of his fortune to charitable causes. For many other pledgers, including some who have passed away, it's not clear whether or not they have held up their charitable promise.
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Canva billionaire vows to donate half of his wealth for 'urgent' cause
Canva co-founder and multi-billionaire Cameron Adams will donate half of his $4.79billion fortune to address urgent environmental issues. Mr Adams and his former zoologist wife, Lisa Miller, announced the move in a letter to global environmental organisation The Giving Pledge. Canva is worth an estimated US $32billion after a share price surge last year. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates established the group in 2010 for the world's überwealthy to fund global philanthropic ventures. In a letter penned to the group, Mr Adams said he and Ms Miller believed 'with great fortune comes great responsibility'. 'We recognise that the opportunities we have had in life place us in a position to give generously and act with purpose,' he wrote. 'Philanthropy is more than charity; it is a means of addressing systemic issues, driving meaningful change, and ensuring that future generations inherit a world rich in possibility and biodiversity. 'By joining the Giving Pledge, we aim to emphasise this responsibility and commit our resources to the planet that we all rely on. 'And this commitment is critical during the next decade.' Ms Miller has been operating the couple's Wedgetail Foundation, protecting and restoring biodiversity. The couple said they have since grown their confidence 'that these are issues worth fighting for'. The software billionaire said governments and businesses will be important in preventing ecological declines, but philanthropy 'has a unique ability to drive bold action'. 'Through the Giving Pledge we are directing the majority of our wealth toward this, because the alternative – inaction on a dying planet – is unacceptable.'
AU Financial Review
19-05-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Canva co-founder pledges to give away half of his $7b fortune
Canva co-founder Cameron Adams and wife Lisa Miller have signed on to Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett's The Giving Pledge, committing to donate at least half their $7 billion fortune to charity over their lifetime. Adams and Miller (a zoologist who has also formerly worked at Canva) have also signed up for the London-based not-for-profit, Founder's Pledge, committing to give away 25 per cent of their wealth at points of 'liquidation' over the next five years.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Canva is getting AI image generation, interactive coding, spreadsheets and more
Although there has been significant pushback from artists regarding the proliferation of AI design tools and the content used to train generative models, the companies making the software for creative work are nevertheless building AI into their toolkits. It's a signal of just how quickly AI has gained importance — regardless of what their customers say, graphics design software makers clearly seem to think they cannot survive without implementing some form of AI. The latest to double down on that strategy is Canva. The company on Thursday said it is adding a suite of new AI features to its platform, including an AI assistant, the ability to create apps with prompts, support for spreadsheets, and AI-powered editing tools. Called Canva AI, the company's AI assistant can perform a host of tasks, from creating images according to your instructions, or coming up with design ideas — say, collateral for social media or mock-ups for printing. It can even write copy and create documents. And by tapping into a new tool dubbed Canva Code, the assistant can also be prompted to create mini-apps, like interactive maps or custom calculators, that can then be integrated in designs. Canva has partnered with Anthropic for this feature, the Australian design company's co-founder and chief product officer Cameron Adams told TechCrunch. "Over the years, we have encouraged our teams to make interactive prototypes because static mockups don't truly represent the experience we are trying to create with Canva for users. We started seeing teams inside Canva use AI a lot for prototyping. We thought of externalizing it and giving everyone the ability to code easily and create interactive experiences," Adams said. To be clear, Canva is not the first to do this. Several startups such as Cursor, Lovable and Replit have attracted lots of customers and attention for enabling users to prompt their way to creating applications. Still, Canva has an incentive to bake such a feature into its software, as it complements its broader selling point as a service used to design everything from marketing collateral to website. Canva is also adding new AI features to its photo editor: one tool allows users to point and click to modify artifacts in photos, while another is a background generator that accounts for lighting and layout. This feature set seems aimed at helping the company compete with tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, and Pixelmator (acquired by Apple last year). Last year, Canva launched an enterprise-focused product to better serve larger teams with features like single sign-on and access management tools. Now, it's adding spreadsheets to the mix with Canva Sheets. Besides the usual spreadsheet features, Canva Sheets comes with a tool called Magic Insights, which, as it says on the tin, surfaces insights gleaned from data on the sheet. There's also a feature called Magic Charts, which converts raw numbers into charts automatically, complete with brand-specific graphics and logos. The company said Canva Sheets supports integrations with HubSpot, Statista, Google Analytics and more to let users import data easily. Companies like Adobe, Canva and Pixlr may be looking to add more value to their offerings, but the fact remains that bringing AI into design tools is causing some tension. Artists are worried not just about their work being used to train AI models without permission, there's also a real threat to creative design jobs. Still, Adams doesn't see this as a clash between AI and creativity; rather, he sees this as a moment of growth and opportunity in the field. "I think all our jobs will change as AI comes, as different tools are integrated across every specialty, whether it be design, product management, engineering, marketing or sales," he said. "I think each job is going to change and adapt to the help they will get from AI tools. We just see a massive opportunity," Adams said. Those changes, it seems, will be here sooner than most expect. Earlier this month, the company laid off some technical writing staff, nine months after its co-founders reportedly asked employees to use AI apps wherever they could. Adams, however, said that these layoffs were not related to AI tools the company is building, but were an effect of restructuring. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Livable Frederick open house dates planned
Frederick County government will host open houses to gather more information from the community as part of the Livable Frederick project. The county will host events between 6 and 8 p.m. at the following dates and locations: * Thursday, March 13, Thurmont Regional Library, 76 E. Moser Road, Thurmont * Wednesday, March 26, Middletown Branch Library, 31 E. Green St., Middletown * Monday, April 7, Urbana Regional Library, 9020 Amelung St., Frederick The presentations will look at the Livable Frederick plans around the Housing Element, the Historic Preservation Plan and the Green Infrastructure Plan. Livable Frederick is a project developed within the Division of Planning and Permitting that focuses on turning holistic goals into plans for the future of the county. The content of the three open houses will be the same, according to a press release. Activities at the open houses will be grouped into three categories: shelter, culture and nature. The activities are designed to gather ideas related to housing; mapping; historical events, places and traditions; and green spaces. — Cameron Adams
