Design Software Unicorn Canva Hits $6 Billion Valuation

Its design software business booming in a work-from-home pandemic environment, Canva has raised new funding that values the startup at $6 billion.

Canva announced on Monday that it had raised $60 million in new funding led by Blackbird and Sequoia China, with participation from fellow previous investors Bond, Felicis and General Catalyst. The investment values Canva at $6 billion, nearly double its previous valuation of $3.2 billion set in October 2019.

In an interview, cofounder Cliff Obrecht said the funding would allow Canva to continue to expand its collaboration tools, launch an Austin, Texas office to serve as its U.S. enterprise hub, and to consider potential acquisitions. The funding is also intended to provide Canva with more cash reserves amid the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Based in Sydney, Australia, Canva chose to raise from previous investors because of the company’s trust in those relationships, Obrecht says, and not because the startup unicorn might have faced worse terms if it sought out new ones. “With the amount of capital we brought on, we were well over ten times over-subscribed,” Obrecht says. “We could’ve raised $2 billion, but I think that would have been a really stupid thing to do.”

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