Now in its 14th year, CNBC’s annual Disruptor 50 list looks at the most promising venture-backed companies innovating across industries, experimenting with AI and, increasingly, making it work at scale
Founders: Melanie Perkins (CEO), Cliff Obrecht, Cameron Adams
Launched: 2013
Headquarters: Sydney, Australia
Funding: $611.8 million
Valuation: $42 billion
Key Technologies: Artificial intelligence, generative AI, low code/no code software
Industry: Enterprise technology
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 4 (No. 5 in 2025)
When Melanie Perkins launched Canva in 2013, the idea was straightforward: make it easy for non-designers to make professional-looking graphics. Graphics software was not easy to use, unintuitive and required training. The Sydney-based startup replaced complicated graphics software with drag-and-drop templates and stock images.
Today, with $4 billion in annual recurring revenue and 260 million monthly active users, Canva has seemingly solved its original problem by making design accessible to people without training. But the market for easy design tools is crowded with competitors such as Figma, Adobe and Microsoft launching compelling offerings. At the same time, enterprise software stocks such as Adobe have faced serious questions about their ability to maintain valuations and users in an AI-first era.
To sustain growth, Canva is moving beyond core templates and into the larger world of creative work, much of it AI-assisted.
In April, Canva launched Canva AI 2.0, a conversational assistant that generates designs from descriptions rather than guiding users through templates. Users describe what they want, whether it’s a social media post about a product launch or presentation deck, then talk it out in conversation with Canva AI. Users can edit and refine every element at any stage.
“AI is great at getting you to 80%,” Cameron Adams, Canva’s co-founder and product chief, told CNBC in February when it made two acquisitions, motion graphics application maker Cavalry and video advertising startup MangoAI. “That last 20% where you’re confident that you can push this piece of content out and truly represent your brand and speak to your audience and achieve the goals that you want to achieve is vital to have, and that last 20% is really tricky to do.”
The company also introduced what it calls a “Creative Operating System,” which is a redesigned video editor, form builder, and ad platform meant to handle creative workflows from start to finish. The idea is if Canva is where you start and finish creative work, it becomes harder to leave.
Crucially, Canva integrated with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Microsoft Copilot. Instead of forcing users into Canva’s interface, users can create designs directly inside their preferred AI. The strategy is to be the engine behind other platforms rather than compete with them directly. Canva’s partnership model comes with some risks, as the OpenAI, Anthropic, and big tech models have their own, sometimes competing, priorities. Meanwhile, others in the space such as Adobe and Figma are also shipping AI features and have deep enterprise relationships.
But Canva understands something its competitors sometimes miss. Non-technical people want simplicity, an ability to describe what they need and have it done. The challenge is staying true to its simplicity while expanding.
“Our revenue growth has not stopped, our user growth has not stopped, and the quality of our product is getting better and better with the inclusion of AI,” Adams told CNBC.
