Canva raises $3.6 million in latest funding round
Australian startup Canva today announced the completion of its second round of funding, netting US$3.6 million from its existing investors, Matrix Partners, Blackbird Ventures, and Square Peg Capital, along with two newcomers, Founders Fund and Shasta Ventures.
This latest round of funding brings the total amount raised for the Sydney-based company to US$6.6 million, following its initial US$3 million seed funding round early last year.
Since launching 11 months ago, the online graphic design platform has grown to 600,000 users, who have created more than 3.5 million designs.
Over the past few months, Canva has announced a series of partnerships with a number of companies, including GoDaddy, Tailwind, Agora Pulse, Post Planner, and TabSite, allowing their users to create Canva graphics within these sites.
The company has not only garnered the attention of users, investors and partners over the past year, but it has also won the support of Apple's former chief evangelist, Guy Kawasaki.
In April, Canva announced that Kawasaki had decided to come on board as the startup's chief evangelist in a bid to help build its brand internationally, with a particular focus on Silicon Valley.
Kawasaki was Apple's chief evangelist in the 1980s and has since become an advisor to Google; an Apple Fellow; co-founded venture capital firm, Garage Technology Ventures; and has founded online magazine rack, Alltop.
Earlier this month, Kawasaki flew to Sydney to promote his new role with the company and spent time with its founders, Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams.
"I was an early adopter of Canva and used it to create graphics for my social media posts and email newsletters," said Kawasaki. "After making contact with Canva's founders, I was enchanted by the company's vision."
The new funding round announcement comes as the company launches a new plug-in for third party websites, allowing users to create their own graphics. The plug-in, dubbed the 'Canva Button', will be rolled out on partner websites over the coming weeks.
"Instead of just offering an upload button and expecting users to figure out the rest, the Canva Button enables a website's users to easily create graphics without leaving their page," said Perkins. "We want this to be accessible to everyone so the button is free and can be implemented with just a few lines of code."