Australia’s Canva Wants to Take on Adobe, Google, and Microsoft. But Can It?

In 2007, a young couple in Sydney established a web-based yearbook publisher called Fusion Books. The platform lets schools create their yearbooks using an online drag-and-drop editor and template library. Today, the company has evolved into Canva (PC:CNVAX), a design software company that is now one of Australia’s most valuable institutions.

Canva, which was launched by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams in 2013, offers a user-friendly online graphic design platform to non-professional users. The platform became popular for its freemium model that allows individuals to design everything from social media images, posters, wedding invitations, to slide decks, and videos. The premium version of the platform unlocks extra features.

Canva Counts on AI for Growth

However, the company, which is now worth about $42 billion, is turning up the heat. Canva now aims its products at enterprise users.

The Australian design software company is taking on Adobe (ADBE) in the battle for users. It recently introduced an AI-powered tool that enables photo editing through conversational interaction. This is even as Adobe continues to build AI capabilities into its products, including image editors Photoshop and Lightroom, via Firefly, its generative AI engine.

Furthermore, Canva is also working towards snapping up portions of the global productivity management software market. This market is currently valued at over $81 billion and is expected to be worth more than $264 billion by 2034, according to Precedence Research.

Can Canva Rival Microsoft and Google?

Meanwhile, in 2022, Canva rolled out a “visual worksuite,” a collection of workplace products designed for document collaboration, website building, and data visualization. According to analysts, the new suite could be a challenger to Google’s (GOOGL) Google Docs and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Microsoft Office Suite.

However, software products from the American tech giants currently account for over 96% of the office productivity software market. This means that Canva has a long way to go before it can become a significant competitor to both titans.

IPO in the Offing?

Already, industry observers have been counting on signs to suggest that Canva might consider going public to expand its market value. The software design company currently boasts about 240 million monthly active users.

The talks of a possible Canva IPO (initial public offering) have continued to grow more audible, even as industry mate Figma (FIG) went public earlier in July to wide applause—although Figma is now struggling to maintain that momentum.

Last month, Canva initiated an employee stock sale that pushed its value to about $42 billion, up from about $32 billion in 2024. This is even as Cliff Obrecht, one of the co-founders, recently mentioned that market conditions for an IPO are looking more promising.

With artificial intelligence at the core of current innovation in the industry, driving the rapid expansion of other companies such as Nvidia (NVDA) and OpenAI, Canva’s bet on AI to expand its business might deliver growth strong enough to make it a much bigger force to reckon with.

You can read more about Canva here.