Melanie Perkins

Melanie Perkins
Perkins in 2019
Melanie Perkins
Born	Template:Birth year and age
Birthplace	Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Technology entrepreneur
Known for	Co-founder and CEO of Canva
Education	University of Western Australia
Spouse(s)	Cliff Obrecht

Melanie Perkins (born 1987) is an Australian technology entrepreneur who co-founded and serves as chief executive officer of Canva, an online graphic design platform valued at approximately US$42 billion. Alongside co-founders Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams, Perkins built Canva from an idea conceived in a university dorm room into one of the world's most valuable private technology companies, used by hundreds of millions of people globally. Before Canva, Perkins co-founded Fusion Books, a web-based yearbook publishing company, while still a university student. Her entrepreneurial trajectory—from teaching design software to fellow students in Perth to leading a global technology company from Sydney—has made her one of Australia's most prominent business figures. In 2023, she was listed on the Forbes list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women and ranked 92nd on FortuneTemplate:'s list of Most Powerful Women. Together with Obrecht, Perkins has signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.

Early Life

Melanie Perkins was born in 1987 in Perth, Western Australia. She grew up in Perth and attended Sacred Heart College, a Catholic secondary school in the Perth suburb of Sorrento.

From an early age, Perkins demonstrated an entrepreneurial inclination. As a teenager, she sold handmade scarves, an early venture that reflected her interest in creating and selling products.

The genesis of what would become Canva emerged during Perkins's time as a university student. While studying at the University of Western Australia, she began tutoring other students in how to use graphic design software programs. Through this experience, Perkins observed that existing design tools were unnecessarily complex and inaccessible to the average user. Programs such as Adobe Photoshop and InDesign required extensive training and were prohibitively expensive for many potential users. This frustration with the status quo of design software planted the seed for her future ventures.

It was during this period that Perkins met Cliff Obrecht, who would become both her business partner and, later, her husband. Together, the pair began exploring ways to simplify the design process and make it accessible through the internet.

Education

Perkins enrolled at the University of Western Australia in Perth, where she studied communications, media, and commerce. While at university, her experience tutoring fellow students in design programs proved formative for her career. The difficulty she witnessed students having with professional-grade design software reinforced her conviction that there was a market for simpler, more intuitive design tools.

Perkins ultimately did not complete her degree, choosing instead to focus full-time on her first startup, Fusion Books, which she had co-founded while still a student.

Career

Fusion Books

In 2007, at the age of 19 and while still a university student, Perkins co-founded Fusion Books with Cliff Obrecht. Fusion Books was an online yearbook design and publishing platform that allowed school students in Australia to collaboratively design their own yearbooks using a simplified, web-based interface. The concept grew directly from Perkins's observation that the design tools available at the time were overly complex for basic publishing tasks such as yearbook creation.

The company operated from Perth and grew to become one of the largest yearbook publishers in Australia. Fusion Books served as both a viable business and a proof of concept for Perkins's broader vision: that design software could be made accessible to non-professionals through web-based, drag-and-drop tools. The experience Perkins gained running Fusion Books—managing production, dealing with customers, and refining the user interface—would prove instrumental in the development of Canva.

Founding Canva

While Fusion Books demonstrated the viability of simplified online design for a niche market, Perkins had a more ambitious goal: to create a platform that could democratize the entire graphic design process. She envisioned a tool that would allow anyone—regardless of training or technical skill—to produce professional-quality designs for a wide range of purposes, from social media graphics and presentations to marketing materials and documents.

Securing funding for this vision proved to be a significant challenge. Perkins and Obrecht spent several years pitching to investors, initially with little success. Operating from Perth—geographically distant from the major technology investment hubs of Silicon Valley and even Sydney—added to the difficulty. Perkins has recounted being rejected by over 100 investors during the early fundraising process.

The turning point came when Perkins and Obrecht attended a technology conference in the United States, where they began to make connections with Silicon Valley investors. They eventually recruited Cameron Adams, an experienced technology executive and former Google employee, as a co-founder. Adams brought significant technical expertise that complemented Perkins's design vision and Obrecht's operational capabilities.

Canva was officially launched in 2013, based in Sydney, Australia. The platform offered a freemium model, providing basic design tools at no cost while charging for premium features, templates, and assets. The interface was built around a drag-and-drop system that eliminated the need for the steep learning curve associated with traditional design software.

Growth and Valuation

Canva experienced rapid growth following its launch. The platform's accessibility attracted a broad user base that included individuals, small businesses, educators, non-profit organizations, and eventually large enterprises. By 2015, the company had achieved a valuation of approximately A$230 million (US$165 million).

By 2019, Canva had reached a valuation of US$3.2 billion and, notably, was already profitable—a rarity among high-growth technology startups of that era. The company's profitability was highlighted in a Forbes profile that described Canva as a "startup phenom." The platform's revenue model, combining free access with paid subscriptions (Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise), proved effective at converting its large free user base into paying customers.

The company continued to grow substantially through the early 2020s, fueled by the global shift toward remote work and digital communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. The increased demand for digital design tools—for virtual presentations, social media content, and remote collaboration—accelerated Canva's user acquisition.

By 2025, Canva was valued at approximately US$42 billion, making it one of the most valuable private technology companies in the world. The company has remained private, with Perkins resisting pressure to pursue an initial public offering (IPO). According to Fortune, instead of taking the company public "as the world expects of her," Perkins has been focused on building and expanding Canva's product offerings from the company's base in Sydney.

In August 2025, Canva facilitated an employee share sale that allowed past and present employees—referred to internally as "Canvanauts"—to sell up to US$3 million of their vested equity, creating a significant number of new millionaires among the company's workforce.

Product Expansion and AI Integration

Under Perkins's leadership, Canva has expanded well beyond its origins as a simple graphic design tool. The platform now offers a suite of products that includes presentation software, video editing tools, website building capabilities, and document creation features—positioning it as a competitor not only to traditional design software but also to productivity suites.

In April 2025, Canva launched Canva Code, a generative artificial intelligence coding tool, as well as Canva Sheets, a spreadsheet product. Perkins stated that the AI coding tool "would have made a huge difference" when she was first developing her business ideas, reflecting on how the technology could lower barriers for future entrepreneurs.

Perkins has described her approach to building Canva as customer-centric, stating that "everything good was once imagined" as a guiding principle for the company's product development philosophy.

Leadership Style

Perkins has attracted media attention for her approach to work-life balance, which contrasts with the always-on culture prevalent in the technology industry. In a 2025 podcast interview, Perkins revealed that she does not have email or Slack installed on her phone, stating: "When I shut my laptop, I actually tune out." She noted that in the event of a genuine emergency, she would receive an emergency call or page. This approach to digital boundaries has been cited as an example of how high-performing executives manage focus and avoid burnout.

Personal Life

Melanie Perkins is married to Cliff Obrecht, who is also co-founder of Canva and serves as the company's chief operating officer. The couple met while students at the University of Western Australia and have been both romantic and business partners since their early twenties.

Despite the substantial wealth generated by Canva's success, Perkins and Obrecht have been public about their relatively modest lifestyle compared to other technology billionaires. In 2021, the couple signed the Giving Pledge, an initiative founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, committing to give away at least half of their fortune to charitable causes. At the time of the announcement, Perkins and Obrecht stated their intention to direct their philanthropy toward causes including poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability.

Perkins has been identified, alongside Ginia Rinehart, as one of Australia's youngest billionaires.

The couple is based in Sydney, Australia, where Canva's headquarters are located.

Recognition

Perkins has received numerous accolades recognizing her role in building Canva and her influence in the global technology industry.

In 2023, Forbes included Perkins on its annual list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women, a ranking that assesses the influence and impact of women in business, technology, politics, and philanthropy worldwide. In the same year, Fortune ranked her 92nd on its Most Powerful Women list. She has continued to be recognized on FortuneTemplate:'s Most Powerful Women in Asia rankings.

Forbes has profiled Perkins on multiple occasions, including a detailed 2019 feature that examined Canva's profitability and growth trajectory at a time when many comparably valued startups were unprofitable. Her Forbes profile has tracked the growth of her personal net worth alongside Canva's rising valuation.

In Australia, Perkins featured on The West AustralianTemplate:'s Rich List in 2018, which highlighted her journey from a Sacred Heart College graduate to the head of a billion-dollar technology company.

Media coverage has frequently highlighted Perkins's age and gender as noteworthy in the context of the technology industry, where female founders of companies valued in the billions of dollars remain relatively uncommon. The BBC, Fortune, Forbes, and Entrepreneur have all published substantial profiles of Perkins.

Legacy

Melanie Perkins's career is most closely associated with the concept of democratizing design—making professional-quality graphic design tools accessible and affordable to people without formal design training. Through Canva, she and her co-founders have fundamentally altered the landscape of the design software industry, which was historically dominated by professional-grade products that required significant expertise and financial investment to use.

Canva's growth from a Perth-based yearbook publisher to a globally used platform with a valuation of US$42 billion has also had implications for the Australian technology sector. The company's success, achieved while maintaining its headquarters in Sydney rather than relocating to Silicon Valley, has been cited as evidence that world-class technology companies can be built outside of traditional technology hubs.

Perkins's decision, alongside Obrecht, to sign the Giving Pledge has positioned the couple among a small group of technology founders who have committed to directing the majority of their accumulated wealth toward philanthropy. This decision, made while both were still in their thirties, has drawn attention to questions about the responsibilities of wealth generated through technology ventures.

The employee share sale program initiated in 2025, which enabled Canva employees to realize significant financial gains from their equity holdings, has been noted as an example of wealth distribution within a private technology company—a model that some observers have contrasted with companies that delay liquidity events for employees by remaining private for extended periods.

Perkins's journey from teenage scarf-maker in Perth to CEO of a US$42 billion company has become one of the most frequently cited entrepreneurial origin stories in the Australian business landscape.