Five Canva executives with years of experience at technology giants including Meta, Adobe and Google have departed the Australian design software company over the past 18 months as it prepares for the long run-up to its sharemarket listing.

The departures are concentrated in divisions responsible for selling to the large corporate customers crucial to Canva’s plans for a multi-billion dollar IPO and highlight the Sydney-based company’s leadership challenges as it tries to absorb talent from the tech giants it hopes to emulate.