Canva Is Worth $42 Billion. When Does It IPO?

How can I invest in Canva before it goes public?

Canva is still a private company, so its shares cannot be bought on any stock exchange, and the only way in before an IPO is to buy existing shares from current holders in a secondary transaction. Those transactions are tightly controlled. Canva's last major share sale in August 2025 was run by the company for its employees, with the shares bought by large institutions including Fidelity and JPMorgan's asset management arm, and access for individuals is generally limited to wholesale investors through secondary platforms or special purpose vehicles when existing holders choose to sell.

When is Canva expected to list?

Canva has not set a date, and the most recent signal from the company points to 2027. Co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht told Capital Brief in April 2026 that the company was "fully IPO ready" but wanted to make sure the evolution of its business model was "really bedded in", adding "I assume it will be next year", as Startup Daily reported. That came after Blackbird, one of Canva's earliest investors, told its own investors that Canva was ready for an IPO in the second half of 2026 should it choose to proceed.

The delay reflects a choice to finish a shift in Canva's product before facing public market scrutiny. The company has bought eight startups in two years to build out its AI capabilities, including five in early 2026, and Obrecht said Canva wanted to avoid "having to explain ourselves to the market through a transitional period". Staying private has also become easier, since employee share sales give staff a way to realise some of their equity without a listing, and institutional buyers have been willing to purchase those shares at rising valuations.

Several groundwork steps are already in place. Canva hired former Zoom finance chief Kelly Steckelberg as its chief financial officer in late 2024, having worked on Zoom's 2019 listing, and it has set up a US-registered parent company, a move it said would help prepare for a future IPO. Canva has not confirmed an exchange, although the US parent structure points toward a US listing.

How did Canva become a $42 billion company?

Canva grew from a simple idea about making design easier into one of the world's most valuable private software companies over little more than a decade. Melanie Perkins came up with the concept in 2006 as a 19-year-old university student in Perth, frustrated at how complicated design software was for her classmates, and she and Cliff Obrecht first tested it through Fusion Books, an online tool that let schools design their own yearbooks. A meeting with Silicon Valley investor Bill Tai at a Perth conference in 2010 opened doors in the United States, and by 2012 the pair had brought in Google Maps co-founder Lars Rasmussen as a technical adviser and Cameron Adams as their third co-founder, as CNBC recounted in 2020.

Canva launched in 2013 after a first funding round of US$1.5 million, which Perkins has said came only after many rejections from investors. Its growth then accelerated through the decade, and in September 2021 it raised US$200 million at a US$40 billion valuation, led by T. Rowe Price with Franklin Templeton, Sequoia, Blackbird and AirTree among the investors, at a time when it had more than 60 million monthly users. The founders also pledged around 30 per cent of their personal equity to the Canva Foundation.

Canva's most recent priced transaction was its August 2025 employee share sale, which valued the company at US$42 billion, or around A$65 billion, up from roughly US$32 billion in late 2024. Since then, some of its investors have marked their holdings lower in 2026, with T. Rowe Price valuing Canva at US$38.2 billion, Franklin Templeton at US$39.3 billion and Blackbird at US$34.9 billion, citing a slower AI product rollout and lower growth forecasts, as Forbes Australia reported.

The business has kept growing through those valuation moves. Obrecht said in February 2026 that Canva had reached US$4 billion in annual recurring revenue at the end of 2025, with 265 million monthly users and more than 31 million paying users, and PitchBook's 2026 ANZ breakdown describes a listing at Canva's scale as likely to be the largest Australian venture-backed exit to date.

What are the risks of buying Canva shares before the IPO?

The main risks are timing, price and access. Canva's own leadership has moved its expected listing from 2026 to 2027, and a further delay would extend the period in which shares bought today cannot easily be sold. The IPO could also price below the last private valuation, and the 2026 investor markdowns show that this is already a live question, particularly if the market takes a cautious view of Canva's move into AI-driven products or of competition from larger software companies.

Private company shares also come with restrictions that listed shares do not. Canva controls who can buy its shares and when, secondary prices can sit well above or below the last company-run sale, and investors holding shares through an SPV will be bound by any lock-up after listing before they can sell. Australian investors buying into a US-structured company should also consider currency movements and seek tax advice, and NonPublic's guide to private market risks covers these issues in more detail.

NonPublic Pty Ltd (ABN 49 607 216 928) holds Australian Financial Services Licence #482668. Investments are available to wholesale and sophisticated investors as defined under the Corporations Act 2001. This content is general in nature and does not constitute financial product advice. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation, or needs. Investing in private markets involves significant risk, including the potential loss of your entire investment. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. You should obtain independent financial advice before making any investment decision.