Perkins is the co-founder and chief executive of Canva, a graphic design company. The Sydney-based startup provides easy-to-use software for the creation of presentations, videos and marketing materials. It has about 60 million users each month and was valued at $40 billion in a September 2021 capital raising.
Melanie Perkins's net worth of $5.30B can buy ...
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Perkins's fortune is derived from her stake in Canva, a graphic design company. The Sydney-based technology startup has more than 60 million users each month, according to its website.
Canva was valued at $40 billion in a September 2021 capital raising, according to a Bloomberg News report. Some investors in Canva subsequently reduced the carrying values of their stakes and the valuation used here was reduced by 10% in June 2022 to reflect these falls. This led to a decrease in the net worth calculation of about $500 million.
Perkins disclosed in a Medium post at the time that the pair intend to give away the vast majority of their equity through the Canva Foundation and that the amount they intend to give represents 30% of Canva. Perkins and Obrecht are each credited with 15.5% stakes in this analysis. No reduction to reflect charitable giving is made here because the details are uncertain.
Lachlan Andrews, a spokesperson for Canva, declined to comment on the calculation.
Melanie Perkins was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1987.
She dropped out of the University of Western Australia at the age of 19 to run her first startup Fusion Books, a yearbook design company.
The venture, which she co-founded with Cliff Obrecht, led to the creation of Canva. Obrecht and Perkins were introduced to Cameron Adams, the company’s third founder, following an attempt to raise startup capital in Silicon Valley.
Canva, a provider of easy-to-use graphic design software, began operating in 2013 and by 2016 it had more than 10 million users.
The company’s valuation reached $40 billion in a 2021 capital raising.