Canva to hit insane $2.7 billion in annual revenue off AI boom

The tech giant is the darling of Australia and the wider world off the back of the news of its absolutely insane multi-billion dollar earnings.

Australian online graphic design company Canva expects to make an eye-watering $US1.7 billion (A$2.7b) in annualised revenue for the current financial year.

On Thursday, the tech unicorn revealed the forecast based on its revenue spanning over the last three months.

That’s a staggering figure, especially considering its revenue has surged by 21 per cent since it last reported a forecast in March, where the company expected to generate $US1.4 billion (A$2.21b).

Although Canva is privately owned – although there are murmurs of a possible initial public offering (IPO) – its founders have extolled the virtues of transparency and have kept the general public informed of their financial health over the years.

Part of Canva’s massive growth in the space of just six months has been attributed to its investment in artificial intelligence (AI).

Coinciding with their revenue announcement, the Australian business has announced a suite of new features for its users, two years after buying an AI company in an investment that has clearly paid off.

Cameron Adams, cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins, Canva’s co-founders.

Among its new features, Canva has committed to a $200 million fund for its users through paying royalties to train its new artificial intelligence engine.

“We won’t ever use the data of Canva Creators without their explicit permission, but for those who opt-in, the Creator Compensation Program will pay them to have their content used to train our proprietary AI models,” the company stated in its announcement.

The new features have been dubbed Magic Studio and there is a dedicated team of 300 employees working solely on its AI capabilities.

The tech giant is the darling of Australia and the wider world.

In August, it received a glowing valuation of $US25.6 billion (A$39b) after some of its shares were bought out by a US tech investor.

Canva was founded by Perth sweethearts Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, alongside Tasmanian developer Cameron Adams, and went on to garner 150 million monthly active users across 190 countries, with more than 3000 employees.

In the past year, Canva said an additional 65 million customers have come on board to the platform.

“A decade ago, Canva set out to empower the world to design by simplifying a complex and fragmented design ecosystem,” Ms Perkins said.

“As we go into the next decade of our journey, we’re incredibly excited to be taking a massive leap forward with the launch of Magic Studio – the first all-in-one suite of design AI tools created to supercharge the way teams create and scale visual content.”

At its peak in September 2021, the Aussie business was valued at a staggering $54.5 billion with that impressive figure meaning the unicorn had more than doubled its worth since April 2021, when it was valued at an estimated $19 billion.

Canva has rolled out its new Magic Studio features.

Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht hold a 30 per cent stake in Canva between them.

The most recent valuation from Forbes put their net worth at US$3.6 billion each.

“Profitability went out of fashion in the tech industry but we’re profitable,” Ms Perkins said at a press conference in March.

She acknowledged the meltdown occurring in the tech space, adding that there were “a lot of choppy seas out there”.

However, they have no plans to lay off staff and are continuing to hire for select positions.

Originally published as Canva to hit insane $2.7 billion in annual revenue off AI boom