Canva raises $87 million, and hits $8.7 billion valuation, amid COVID-19 boost

Aussie unicorn Canva has done it yet again, raising US$60 million ($87.3 million), and almost doubling its valuation to US$6 billion ($8.7 billion).

According to reports, the investment was led by Blackbird Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Bond Capital, Felicis and General Catalyst, and brings the startup’s total capital raised to more than $436 million, with $312 million of that raised within the past 18 months.

The funding follows a successful few months for Canva. According to a statement, activity on the design platform has increased by 50% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Canva’s accelerated growth is indicative of the ‘new normal’,” co-founder Cliff Obrecht said in a statement.

“Now more than ever, organisations of all sizes are doubling down on building a reliable remote workplace.”

Canva has also recently launched a suite of workplace collaboration tools, and an online conferencing tool for enterprise customers.

This latest funding will partly fuel the opening of a new office in Austin, Texas, and a push for further growth in the US.

Founded back in 2013, Canva reached the coveted $1 billion valuation milestone five years later, in January 2018, with a $51 million raise.

And it was only uphill from there. In May 2019, the scale-up raised another $100 million to achieve a valuation of $3.6 billion, and the following October a fresh $125 million capital injection pushed that valuation up to $4.7 billion.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has driven a mass move to remote work, “Canva continues to power ahead”, said Rick Baker, co-founder of VC fund Blackbird, a long-time Canva investor.

“In a post-COVID world of remote working, we are seeing Canva’s original vision — a collaborative platform to provide all the elements to create great design — become even more powerful.”

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