06 Oct 2015 Canva Raises $15 Million Series A at $165 Million Valuation

Online design platform Canva has today announced a Series A funding round of $15 million at a $165 million valuation.

The company, where I’m an employee, has recently passed the 5 million user milestone after just two years since launch.

Raising Capital

The raise was lead by Felicis Ventures, for whom this is their largest investment.  Notable participants include actors Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson.

The funds will be used to “grow the team, enhance the product and expand globally”, which is code for hiring more engineers. 

Canva for Work

The funding comes on the heels of the launch of Canva for Work, a subscription product that allows teams to collaborate, manage brand assets and shared templates, a service that has been taken up by large publishers Huffington Post, Lonely Planet, Yelp and Hubspot. 

Selling at the Point of Use

The industry is watching closely as sales through API connections, continued integration of Adobe Stock into Creative Cloud, and Canva, pull more and more license sales away from stock photo agency websites.