Australian design platform Canva raises $15m in Series A

Headquartered in Sydney, Canva was launched in 2013 by Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht. Through a cloud-based web platform and mobile app, users can pick a standard layout, drop in fonts and images, then save and download the final design to file. It is a popular design tool for marketers, non-profit organizations, bloggers and the education sector.

Over the past two years, Canva has grown to reach over five million users who have created more than 35 million designs. Last month, it launched a paid subscription service, called Canva for Work, that targets large corporates. The new program has been adopted by global companies including Yelp, Upworthy and Lonely Planet.

In May, the company raised a $6 million round led by Matrix and Shasta Ventures. Blackbird and Australian-based new investor AirTree Ventures also participated. This came after Founders Fund and Shasta put in $3.6 million last July.

The start-up received $3 million in seed funding round in March 2013 from a group of high-profile angel investors include Seek co-founder Paul Bassat and Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman. Matrix, InterWest Partners, 500 Startups and Blackbird committed institutional capital.

Canva said in a statement that it will use the new funding to continue to enhance the product and expand its global footprint.

Felicis Ventures has over $110 million in total committed assets. It is currently investing its $120 million venture fund which was raised last year. The firm focuses on mobile technology, e-commerce, consumer enterprise, education and healthcare, investing in start-ups in over 25 different countries.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Venture
• Expansion
• Technology
• Australia
• Venture
• Growth capital
• TMT
• Blackbird Ventures