Australia's Canva has just raised $US70 million, valuing the graphic design tool website at $US2.5 billion ($AU3.6 billion).
Investors in the round include General Catalyst, Bond, Felicis Ventures and Blackbird Capital.
Canva, founded in 2013, will use the new funding to further cement the website as the default graphic design platform in every workplace.
“We’ve seen incredible uptake from millions of people all around the world, with organisations of all sizes, from small businesses to Fortune 500s, using Canva every day,” says Canva co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins.
Mary Meeker, the author of internet trends report, chose Canva as her first investment by her venture capital firm, Bond.
“The Canva team are building their platform around three trends – content, community and commerce – that we’ve been observing in some of the world’s fastest growing companies,” Meeker says.
“With its global user base of more than 15 million monthly active users, Canva is a clear leader providing a platform that empowers users to create compelling, data-rich visuals and gain design fluency through collaboration and feedback.”
Kyle Doherty, managing director at General Catalyst, says the decision to invest in Canva was a no-brainer .
"In only five years it has not only demonstrated the need for a simpler way to design, but it is also one of the rarer cases of a tech startup that is already profitable while growing incredibly quickly," says Doherty.
"Every organisation in the world juggles dozens of publishing tools, and has a highly stretched design team. Canva makes the design process simpler, giving everyone the tools they need to create content to achieve their goals.”
Canva last week announced it had acquired two of the world’s biggest free stock content sites Pexels and Pixabay.
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