Melanie Perkins didn’t come up through Silicon Valley’s usual fast lanes. She grew up in Perth, Western Australia, and while her path would eventually lead to one of the world’s biggest design platforms, it started with something far smaller: handmade scarves.
As a teenager, Perkins began making and selling scarves through shops and local markets. The point wasn’t just extra cash — it was the feeling of control that stuck with her. In later interviews, she’s described that early experience as the moment she realized building something of her own could be more than a side project — it could be a life.
A founder’s background far from “tech hub” clichés
Perkins was born in Perth to an Australian-born mother who worked as a teacher and a father who was Malaysian-born and worked as an engineer, with Filipino and Sri Lankan heritage. That mix of grounded practicality and global perspective shows up repeatedly in Canva’s “make it accessible” mission.
The design problem she couldn’t ignore
While studying at the University of Western Australia, Perkins took on work tutoring students in graphic design. It gave her a front-row seat to a frustrating reality: professional design software was powerful, but it could be painfully hard to learn.
That friction planted the seed of a bigger idea — what if design tools were as intuitive as dragging and dropping pieces into place?
At 19, Perkins left university to pursue that vision.
Starting small with Fusion Books
Before Canva, there was Fusion Books — an online yearbook design business Perkins built with Cliff Obrecht (then her boyfriend, now her husband). They started with minimal resources, operating out of her mother’s living room in Perth.
Fusion Books wasn’t just a stepping stone. It was proof that a browser-based design workflow could work — and that regular people, not just trained designers, wanted something simpler.
The rejection streak that shaped Canva
The leap from “yearbooks” to “design platform for everyone” came with a brutal side effect: investor rejection. Perkins has said she heard “no” more than 100 times while pitching.
She kept going anyway — refining the story, tightening the pitch, and finding ways to get in the same rooms as potential backers. One of the more memorable examples: she learned to kitesurf to connect with investors who shared the hobby.
That persistence eventually paid off. In March 2013, Canva announced a $3 million seed round.
Canva’s launch — and early traction
Canva publicly launched in 2013 with a simple promise: make design feel effortless. The product leaned into a clean, drag-and-drop interface and templates that didn’t require a design degree to use.
Momentum came fast. By January 2014, Canva reported reaching 150,000 users.
Where Canva is now
Canva has grown into a global design platform used by individuals, classrooms, small businesses, and large organizations.
By late 2024, Canva said more than 220 million people across 190+ countries were using the product each month. And in 2025, Reuters reported Canva was investing heavily in AI tools for more than 240 million monthly active users.
On the valuation front, Canva’s $40 billion figure is closely associated with its 2021 peak. More recently, Reuters reported an employee share sale valuing the company at about $42 billion in August 2025.
Perkins’ rise has made her one of Australia’s best-known (and younger) self-made tech billionaires — though “world’s youngest” is a harder claim to pin down in a fast-changing billionaire landscape.
“Custodians,” not just founders
For Perkins, Canva’s success has also come with a public commitment to philanthropy.
In 2021, Perkins and Obrecht announced they would commit the vast majority of their equity — described as 30% of Canva — to do good in the world through the Canva Foundation. They’ve also described Canva’s broader “31% pledge” as part of the company’s long-term impact plans.
In her announcement to the community, Perkins wrote that being described as a “billionaire” felt strange, because they’ve viewed themselves as “purely custodians” of that wealth.
Lessons from Melanie Perkins’ Canva story
Lesson 1: Treat rejection like product feedback
If you’re building something ambitious, rejection isn’t a sign to stop — it’s data. Perkins’ long stretch of investor “no’s” didn’t end the idea; it forced it to evolve until the pitch (and the vision behind it) clicked.
Lesson 2: Start with a smaller version of the future
Fusion Books wasn’t Canva — and that was the point. It let Perkins and Obrecht prove the core workflow, learn what customers actually needed, and build confidence before scaling the vision.
Lesson 3: Network like a human, not a résumé
Perkins didn’t rely on a perfect LinkedIn profile or a warm intro pipeline. She found common ground — even if that meant learning a new skill — to get access to the people who could help unlock the next stage.
Lesson 4: Stay flexible on the “who,” stay stubborn on the “why”
The mission — making design more accessible — stayed consistent. The market expanded. What began as a solution for yearbooks and education became a platform for everyone.