CANVA STAFF BECOME MILLIONAIRES

Some staff at online design juggernaut Canva are reportedly now millionaires, thanks to the success of a $3.6bn off-market share sale, which has enabled them to cash in their share options ahead of an expected IPO.

Canva partners with several ANZ print operations, who print the products that are designed online in the Canva website, and has become the dominant online design platform. The business was founded by three friends, Cameron Adams, Cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins, in Melbourne in 2012.

Early employees, who were offered shares in the then fledgling business when they started at the company, have been able to cash in, and have now received large cheques. 

Such was the scale of the windfall that Canva negotiated a bulk group discount with accountants EY, to give advice to the lucky staff on how to ensure they were meeting their tax obligations.

The secondary sale of shares was oversubscribed, with institutional investors betting that Canva has considerably more upside. An IPO is likely in the not-too-distant future, possibly next year.

Secondary share deals enable existing shareholders – typically staff who have been given them as part of their remuneration, and early investors – to sell their shares which are largely illiquid, without waiting for an IPO. Early investors have realised stratospheric returns, for instance managed fund Blackbird has seen its $3m investment turn into $1bn.

Canva has become one of the fastest growing tech businesses of all time, growth last year was up by 60 per cent. The founding trio's wealth is estimated to be $6.6bn each.

It has annualised revenue of $2bn. It now has some 170 million users every month, it added more new users in the past year than in the previous nine years combined. It is strongly adopting AI in its products, which is helping drive growth.