Melanie Perkins built Canva for the people design software left behind
From a yearbook business in Perth to one of the most widely used design tools in the world.
Melanie Perkins did not set out to compete with professional design software. She set out to help the people it ignored. As a university student in Perth, she taught classmates how to use design programs and watched them struggle with tools that took a long time to learn.
Her first answer was small. With Cliff Obrecht, she started Fusion Books, an online tool that let schools design their own yearbooks. It worked well enough to prove the idea: if design was simple and template-led, people who had never called themselves designers would use it.
The hard part was the money
Canva launched in 2013, with Perkins as CEO, Obrecht as COO and Cameron Adams as the third co-founder. Getting there took years of fundraising. Perkins has described being turned down by more than 100 investors before the company found its backers.
The product that won them over was simple to explain. Canva runs in the browser, starts from templates rather than a blank page, and is free to start. Paid plans, and later team and enterprise versions, came on top.
Where Canva stands now
According to Fortune, Canva ended 2025 with 265 million monthly active users, up 20% on the year, and has been profitable for eight years in a row. The company launched its AI 2.0 platform in April 2026 and is working toward a listing on a U.S. stock exchange.
Perkins and Obrecht have also pledged to give away most of their stake in the company over time.
What to watch
The next test is AI. Generative tools make it easier than ever to create images and layouts, which is good for Canva's mission and also lowers the barrier for new competitors. How Canva prices AI features, and what they cost to run, will shape the company's path to the public markets.
- Company
- Canva
- Role
- Co-founder & CEO
- HQ
- Sydney, Australia
- Founded
- 2012
- Section
- Software
This profile draws on public reporting and company materials.
Sources: Fortune: Most Powerful Women Asia 2026 · Wikipedia: Melanie Perkins
Photo: Melanie Perkins, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
