Canva Business Model: Exploring How Canva Makes Money
Today’s digital age has made graphic design essential to marketing, branding, and communications. However, not everyone has the necessary technical skills or financial means to use the highly sophisticated design software. This gap paved the way for Canva, a graphic design platform well-known for its intuitive, user-friendly interface and cost-effectiveness.
With over 100 million users worldwide, Canva’s business model has evolved significantly since its inception. In this article, we will explore how Canva makes money, its transition from a product to a platform business model, and explore the brand’s innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Source: Canva.com
What is Canva?
In case you don’t know, Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design platform that makes it easy for anyone to create all types of visual content. This ranges from social media graphics to presentations, posters, documents, and more, thanks to its extensive template library and vast stock photography gallery.
It helps them create all types of digital and non-digital designs easily. Unlike other fancy design software, Canva doesn’t require a fancy computer or special software. You can also visit Canva directly from your web browser.
It has many neat features like presentation templates, social media posts, resumes, brochures, and more. The best part? You don’t need to be a design expert to use it! Canva has this specific nice drag-and-drop editor makes designing easy, even if you’ve never ever done it before. Besides, you can easily print or share your designs on social media without any hassle.
Canva’s Mission and Vision
1. Mission: Canva’s mission is to empower everyone to design effortlessly. The company believes that everyone should possess all the essential tools to express their ideas visually and is completely committed to making this a reality.
2. Vision: Canva’s vision is to become the ultimate platform for all design needs. The company aims to constantly innovate and expand its diverse offerings to cater to its users’ evolving needs.
How Canva Works?
Canva makes it easy for anyone, even a beginner, to design and create great things. But how does it do this? Well, Canvas has this super user-friendly interface that permits you:
1. Customize the template to suit whatever you need.
2. Upload and add shapes, graphs, images, text, audio, and video using a simple drag-and-drop editor.
3. Save, print, and publish your designs in various sizes and formats.
4. Create a brand kit to keep all your colors, fonts, and logo consistent.
5. Team up with the others to work together. Even in the free version, you can still have up to 3000 team members across 20 diverse teams.
6. Edit your pictures with the fantastic filters and effects.
7. With Canva, designing is easy!
Source: Canva.com
Where are Canva Users Based?
Canva is used by people in more than 190 countries worldwide, meaning that Canva is used in 97.4% of the world’s nations.
Origin Story of Canva
Canva was founded in Sydney, Australia 2012 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams. Perkins, a university student at the time, observed that the design tools offered by giants like Microsoft and Adobe were both complex and expensive. Inspired to make design accessible to everyone, she and Obrecht launched Fusion Books, an online school yearbook design service. The initial success of Fusion Books confirmed the viability of their idea, prompting them to expand their vision into what would become Canva.
In 2010, Perkins had the opportunity to pitch her idea to Bill Tai, a Silicon Valley investor. It took her two years, but eventually, Canva secured the substantial investment and the technical expertise needed to build their platform. Since its inception, Canva has flourished exponentially, becoming a central tool for the graphic design novices as well as professionals alike.
Canva’s Impact on Graphic Design
Canva has considerably changed how we approach the realm of graphic design. It has made design easily accessible to the millions who had previously found software like Adobe Photoshop too complicated or even expensive.
Here are key areas of impact:
1. Democratization of Design: Canva has also empowered non-designers with the power to create professional-quality graphics for diverse needs, from the social media posts to business presentations.
2. Simplification and Accessibility: Canva’s highly user-friendly interface has completely simplified the design process, making it easily accessible to people without any formal training of design.
3. Innovation in Collaboration: Canva’s wide range of collaborative features have made it a team favorite, enabling real-time collaboration across diverse geographies.
4. Encouraging Creativity: By removing the technical barriers, Canva has encouraged all the users to explore their creativity without fearing the complex software.
Revenue Growth and Valuation
1. Revenue: Till December 2023, Canva reports an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $2 billion.
2. Growth Rate: The company’s robust growth rate of 21% signifies highly strong market demand and impactfull expansion strategies.
3. Valuation: Canva is valued at $26 billion reflecting high investor confidence. The company has previously aimed for a valuation of $39 billion, suggesting potential in the public markets.
Also Read : Why is Custom Ecommerce Website Design Considered so Important for Your Business?
Canva Design Statistics
Source: Style Factory
Canva Channels
The Canva business model leverages the following different channels to reach and engage with its customers:
1. Website – Canva’s primary platform for accessing the design tools and templates
2. Mobile apps – iOS and Android mobile apps for creating the designs on the go
3. Social media – Platforms for portraying user-created designs and engaging with the community
4. Partnerships – Collaborations with brands, influencers, and organizations to promote Canva
5. Affiliate marketing – Program for users to earn commissions by promoting Canva
Canva Customer Segments
The Canva business model caters to cost-conscious shoppers and other customer segments, including:
1. Individuals – Personal users creating designs for various purposes
2. Small businesses – Companies with limited design resources
3. Marketers – Professionals creating visual content for campaigns
4. Educators – Teachers and students using Canva for the educational projects
5. Nonprofits – Organizations creating designs for their causes
Canva’s Revenue Streams
Despite being free to use, Canva has implemented several revenue-generating strategies over the years. Here’s a detailed look at each one:
1. Canva Pro – Canva Pro is a premium subscription plan that costs $12.99 per month. This plan is designed for graphic design professionals who require advanced features like premium animations, an expanded font library, and priority support. The Pro subscription enhances the user experience and provides considerable value for serious designers who require advanced tools to streamline their design process.
2. Canva Enterprise – For large organizations, Canva offers the Enterprise plan at $30 monthly. This plan provides additional functionality like team management capabilities, role assignments, and shared folders. Educational institutions are given a discount on this plan, while non-profit organizations receive free access to these enterprise features.
3. Canva Print – Canva Print permits users to print their designs on several physical materials, including business cards, postcards, flyers, invitations, and t-shirts. The cost depends on the product type, order volume, and shipping location. Requests for customizations may also entail an extra fee. This service bridges the gap between the digital designs and tangible products, adding another dimension to the Canvas offerings.
4. Marketplace – For users who prefer not to subscribe to Canva Pro or Enterprise, there is an option to buy the single premium designs for a one-time fee. Canva takes a 35% commission from these sales, with the remaining 65% going to the design creator. For designs included in the Pro subscriptions, designers receive 50% of net revenue minus taxes and payment processing fees.
5. Design School – Canva has also ventured into education through its Design School. Offering both online and in-person courses on design, branding, and social media, these classes are led by Canva employees with relevant expertise. While online classes are free, in-person courses cost $5, making design education accessible and affordable.
How Does Canva Make Money?
When asked how Canva makes money, the answer is through a freemium model, where it offers its central product for free but charges for the premium features.
The Freemium Model in Action
Canva employs the freemium model to drive both the user growth and revenue generation. Users can create designs using the free templates and elements. However, the more sophisticated tools and resources require a Canva Pro or Canva for Enterprise subscription. This dual approach ensures high scalability and caters to the diverse user needs.
Subscription Plans
1. Canva Free: Offers fundamental features with 250000+ design templates, free images, and 5GB of storage.
2. Canva Pro: At $12.99/month/user, this subscription service offers additional features such as more templates, premium stock photos, and 10GB of storage.
3. Canva Enterprise: Priced at a $30/month/user, includes the Pro features and social media publishing, advanced collaboration tools, and unlimited storage.
Source: Canva.com
Canva Acquisitions
Since 2018, Canva has acquired several companies and absorbed them all as extensions of Canva Inc., the parent company. That means the revenue those companies make is the part of Canva Inc.’s revenue as, financially speaking, the assets, expenses, and yes, the revenues of each acquired and parent company are combined together and treated together in the consolidation accounting.
Acquiring another company is an expensive investment, as Canva would have had to buy most, if not all, of the stocks of every company it acquired. However, these long-term investments have made it completely possible for Canva to evolve.
With each new acquisition, it can use that company’s technology on its own platform.
If you look closely, you’ll also notice Canva acquired very specific platforms that are very similar to its own but also have features that, if Canva obtained them, would make it even better as a design platform, as they give Canva the access to more images and other resources they can use.
The Key Partners of Canva
Canva works closely with amazing partners to ensure you get the best experience possible. These partnerships enable Canva deliver top-notch products and reach more people worldwide. In 2020, Canva befriended over 40 new enterprises in 18 various countries!
1. Print Partners: Think FedEx Office, Staples Canada, Office Depot, and many more. These print buddies aid the Canva users bring their designs to life by printing and delivering the items to their doorstep. You design, and they print—simple, easy!
2. Digital Partners: Meet HubSpot, Wattpad, PandaDoc, and Bukalapak. These digital companions work very closely with Canva to make designing easier for their users. By integrating Canva into their platform, they help spread the word about Canva and make it more accessible to everyone.
3. Pre-Install Partners: Canva has included Samsung as pre-install partner. This also means that Canva comes preloaded on Samsung devices like phones, tablets, and computers. So whenever you get a Samsung gadget, Canva is right there just waiting for you to get started!
4. App Partners: Canva shares its finest tools with app developers through the Canva API. This permits developers to add even more features to Canva or integrate it with the other apps, making Canva even greater for you!
Also Read: How to Scale Your Software Product as Your Business Grows
Who are Canva’s Main Competitors?
1. Adobe Photoshop: The graphic design software space is very competitive! Canva faces stiff competition from well-established companies like Adobe and its Creative Cloud variety of apps for visual design. Adobe’s popular Photoshop product and the recently launched Adobe Express are key competing products in visual communication.
2. Visme: Another direct competitor of Canva is Visme, which offers a very decent range of design options. Like Canva, it’s also a browser-based tool that makes it easy for the small business owners to create graphics for the websites, social media posts, marketing assets, and more; its drag-and-drop interface is very similar to Canva’s, and its learning curve is also very gentle. Visme currently has 20 million users.
3. VistaCreate: Formerly known as Crello, VistaCreate is another Canva competitor with a very gentle learning curve. It has upwards of 10 million users and provides a big library of over 70 million stock photos.
4. Fotor: Fotor is a key competitor to Canva in online photo editing. It is used by many small businesses and offers a background remover, red eye remover, photo filters, and large image effects. There are 500 million Fotor users worldwide.
How did Canva Become a Household Name?
1. Canva’s Growth Strategy – Canva’s growth strategy is focused around its user-focused design and the freemium business model. The company has focused on making its platform as user-friendly as possible, offering a free version of its software accessible to everyone.
This has helped Canva to attract a large user base, which it then monetizes through its premium offerings.
Besides, Canva has democratized design by making it fully accessible to everyone, not just professionals. This has opened up new opportunities for individuals and businesses to express their ideas visually.
Source: Style Factory
2. Focused Targeting – One of Canva’s primary target audiences is small businesses as well as entrepreneurs. The platform offers cost-effective design solutions that are perfect for businesses on a budget. It also provides branding and marketing tools, making it a one-stop shop for small businesses.
Canva is also popular among the students and educators. The platform offers various educational templates and resources, and it is used in classrooms worldwide to facilitate visual learning.
How many Fortune 500 Companies Use Canva?
Canva is used by around 90% of the Fortune 500 companies, which amounts to 450+ of the America’s largest companies. (Source: Fortune)
Fortune 500 companies that use Canva include FedEx, L’Oréal, Salesforce, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nike, Zoom, Meta, Sony, as well as Danone. (Source: Fortune)
What Industries is Canva Popular in?
According to research, companies in the higher education sector are the biggest users of Canva, representing 15% of all Canva companies.
Nonprofit organizations and marketing companies also make up a significant slice of Canva’s industrial user base, accounting for the 6% and 5% of Canva companies, respectively.
Computer software and Internet companies reportedly constitute over 10% of all companies using Canva.
(Source: Enlyft.)
Canva Charity
Canva’s rapid success has helped Melanie Perkins become a billionaire in the blink of an eye. But you’ll be surprised to know that the idea behind Canva wasn’t to earn tons of money for the founders, which is why she’s planning on giving it all away!
That’s right. According to Perkins, the goals she set out with when she established Canva were for it to become one of the world’s biggest companies and for her to give back to people as much as she could with the success of her company.
The couple has pledged to give a 30% stake – valued at $16 billion – in their company to the Canva Foundation, their charity that works on eliminating poverty. Much like Canva, the Canva Foundation is well on its way to becoming one of the largest charitable foundations in the world – proving that no matter what Perkins sets her mind to, she makes sure to give it all she’s got.
Transformation into a Platform Business Model
Initially, Canva functioned primarily as a product. However, in 2022, the company transitioned into a platform business model. This change shifted the focus from simply developing features to enabling external developers to expand Canva’s usability through the different applications.
By launching its API, Canva invited developers to develop applications within its interface, further expanding its functionality and also becoming a more versatile tool. This transition signifies a noteworthy evolution from a product-based company to a holistic platform ecosystem. Canva’s wide use of APIs permits the third-party applications to integrate effeortlessly, improving the overall user experience and providing innovative solutions created by a wider developer community.
Incorporation of AI Technology
Canva’s innovative spirit doesn’t end just at becoming a platform. The company is also integrating the latest AI technologies to streamline the entire design process. One of the most noticeable features is the text-to-video generation, permitting users to transform the textual prompts into customizable graphics quickly. This AI-assisted feature is part of a much wider trend where the software companies increasingly leverage AI to enhance the functionality and the user experience.
Including AI tools provides unmatched efficiency, helping creators to generate very high-quality graphics quickly. As AI technology advances, Canva’s strategic incorporation of all these tools makes sure that the platform remains at the forefront of digital design innovation.
Source: Canva.com
Marketing Strategy 2025: Canva’s Approach
Multiple Channels:
1. SEO Content: Canva produces high-quality, SEO-friendly content to drive organic traffic.
2. Educational Resources: From the webinars to how-to guides, Canva educates all its users on leveraging its platform.
3. Social Media Engagement: Active engagement on social platforms like Instagram and Facebook improves the brand visibility.
4. User-Generated Content: Encouraging all Canva users to share their creations, fostering a sense of community.
Lessons from Canva’s Product-Led Growth
Canva’s journey offers valuable insights into building a product that resonates well with all users globally. Key learnings include:
1. User-Centric Product Development – Canva’s success underlines the significance of comprehending the user pain points and building solutions that directly address those needs.
2. The Power of Simplicity – Canva’s simple as well as intuitive design proves that the products don’t have to be complex to be powerful. Simplicity can lead to wider adoption.
3. Leveraging Network Effects –By making sharing and collaboration easy, Canva greatly benefits from the network effects, with users naturally promoting the product within their circles.
4. Continuous Innovation – Canva’s growth is also a proof to the significance of continuous innovation. The company regularly introduces new features and integrations to keep the product relevant.
5. Community Building – Engaging with its user community through the design challenges, tutorials, and responsive support, Canva has developed a loyal user base that has led to its growth.
6. Importance of User-Focused Design – One key lesson from the Canva case study is the significance of user-focused design. Canva’s success can mostly be attributed to its user-friendly interface and focus on user needs.
7. Value of Persistent Innovation – Another lesson is the value of constant innovation. Canva’s capability to continually innovate and adapt to the ever-changing user needs has been crucial to its success.
In Conclusion
Canva’s business model, emphasized by the freemium approach and robust marketing strategies, has positioned it as a dominant leader in the graphic design industry. For startups and entrepreneurs, Canva offers an accessible yet powerful tool to create professional designs without a hefty price tag. By leveraging Canva’s comprehensive suite of tools and continuous innovations, businesses can streamline their design processes and maintain a strong visual identity in the marketplace.
If you want more insights on developing a strategic digital success campaign for your brand, contact us at Shyam Future Tech today! Visit https://shyamfuture.com/now!
