Sydney, Australia — 20/03/13 —
Australian startup Canva today announced it has raised a $3 million seed round
from top Australian and U.S. investors including Matrix Partners, InterWest
Partners and 500 Startups.
Accomplished angel investors Bill Tai, Director of
Engineering at Facebook Lars Rasmussen, Yahoo! CFO Ken Goldman, and former Seek
co-founder Paul Bassat and partner at Square Peg Ventures, have also backed the
company. Commercialisation Australia contributed through its Early Stage
Commercialisation program.
Canva is a simple-to-use online collaborative design
platform which allows anyone to create professional quality designs. It’s the
second startup for Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, who previously launched
online school yearbook design product Fusion Books in 2007, while studying at
University. Cameron Adams, former lead designer at Google, has joined Canva as
co-founder and Head of Product.
“We’re incredibly excited to announce Canva,” said CEO Melanie Perkins. “This significant seed round demonstrates confidence in our team, product, and vision.”
Melanie said the $3 million in funding came about
after Cliff and her attended the MaiTai kiteboarding and entrepreneur conference
in Hawaii. While there, they were introduced to a number of prominent
Australian and U.S. investors.
“Our investors bring significant experience and expertise to the table and are accomplished entrepreneurs in their own right. These are people who’ve sat behind the wheel at some of Silicon Valley’s most successful tech companies,”
she said. Lars Rasmussen, Director of Engineering at Facebook
and founder of Google Maps, said he was impressed by the founders: “The Canva
story is highly compelling. This is a strong team with a big vision, and I’m
thoroughly enjoying working with them. Design is moving into a more
collaborative and social world, and I predict Canva will be leading the way.”
Commercialisation Australia CEO Doron Ben-Meir,
commented:
“It can be difficult for Australian companies to take innovative ideas to market. We’ve supported Canva because it’s a strong team with a truly innovative product and we think it has the potential to be a global success,”
Rick Baker, partner at Blackbird Ventures, said
Canva’s team was a sign of growing maturity in the Australian startup scene.
“The desktop design industry is ripe for disruption and the Canva team are the best people for the job. The founders have attracted a stellar cast of international investors, and are proving you can launch a truly global company from Australia,”
he said.
Reserve your Canva username at www.canva.com
