Founded in 2012, Canva is a global design platform that empowers anyone to create professional graphics and videos. With over 1 billion items created and tens of millions of monthly active users, we’re on a mission to help people everywhere unleash their creativity.
We’re a team of over 1000 passionate people, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Manila, Dublin, San Francisco and Los Angeles. And we’re just getting started!
The Case For An IPO
There have been several calls for Canva to go public in recent years. This is primarily due to the company’s massive growth and profitability.
Canva is one of the fastest growing companies in history, with compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of over 100% since launch. In the last 12 months alone, we’ve added over 50 million new users.
This growth has been driven by our strong product-market fit, which has resulted in Canva being one of the most sticky products on the internet. Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) is in the high 70s, which is exceptional for a consumer internet company.
going public could mean more competition and less control over the company’s direction.
Not only is Canva growing incredibly fast, but it is also highly profitable. We generated $US41 million in operating cash flow in FY19 and our run rate is now north of $US60 million per annum.
We are cash flow positive and have no debt. This makes us one of the most valuable private companies in Australia.
The Case Against An IPO
While there are strong arguments for an IPO, there are also several compelling reasons why Canva might choose to stay private for longer. Firstly, an IPO would be a very time-consuming and distracting process for our team. It would require a significant amount of management time and attention that could be better spent on building the business.
Secondly, an IPO would result in Canva being subject to much greater public scrutiny. This could be a distraction from our mission to help people everywhere unleash their creativity.
Finally, it’s worth noting that many of the most successful technology companies have stayed private for much longer than was once thought possible. Companies like Airbnb and Uber are now household names, but they only went public very recently.
The Bottom Line: It’s difficult to say whether or not Canva will go public at this point. The company has seen massive growth and profitability, but there are also compelling reasons why they might choose to stay private for longer. Only time will tell what the future holds for this innovative design platform..
