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Australian design platform unveils premium model Canva for Work after raising $7.6 million

Canva LogoAustralian online design platform Canva has completed a $7.6 million investment round towards the release of its Canva for Work paid subscription service.

The free online design tool aims to provide an accessible alternative to the likes of Adobe’s Photoshop and Indesign programs, employing a freemium model which CEO Melanie Perkins said was aimed to make the product spread further.

“It’s really important to give users as much value as you can. It’s also one of the primary reasons Canva has spread. If the free model is at the core of the offering, it will get into the market,” said Perkins, who founded the platform in 2012.

Canva has not yet revealed how much the new paid-for tier would cost or what different functionality it will incorporate from the free tier.

“We fundamentally believe design and creativity should be accessible. Some people can’t afford to pay for professional design tools,” Perkins said.

“We want Canva to always be free, but when users want to increase productivity and take their designs to the next level, Canva for Work will be there.”

Canva now has 2.4 million users, with 65 per cent of them joining in the last six months, and the site claims more than 40 per cent of Fortune 500 companies are using its tools.

Perkins said they have seen “crazy” growth among the contributors to their image library, which now totals over a million images.

“The world’s changed. People in social media are having to create content for each social media platform,” Perkins said. “There’s a huge pressure on people who aren’t professional designers to create customer-facing marketing materials.”

The release of Canva for Work, which allows business users to use the product together, followed significant interest from business for a collaboration option, said Perkins.

Jack Fisher

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