Melanie Perkins created the Canva app to make it easy for people to present, create logos and more. He became rich because of it.
This is Melanie Perkins who is just 34 years old. As of October 2019, Perkins' net worth was estimated at USD 1.3 billion. Now, his assets are estimated to have jumped to USD 3.4 billion.
Estimated wealth that makes it into the ranks of the richest women in Australia. Perkins is an Australian citizen and has Filipino blood.
Perkins started Canva in 2013 with a mission to make the design platform available to all. Be it a business card design, presentation or logo. He founded it with his partner, Cliff Obrecht.
Perkins was only 19 years old when the idea of a design platform crossed his mind, when he and Cliff were students in Perth. At that time, he felt that design programs from Microsoft or Adobe were difficult to use.
With the Canva core team. "People have to spend an entire semester learning where the buttons are and it just feels ridiculous," Perkins said.
"I think in the future, it's going to be online and collaborative and a lot simpler than those heavy tools," he added.
With British billionaire Richard Branson as they travel to Necker Island. In 2010, Perkins was invited to San Francisco by investor Bill Tai to present his ideas for Canva. Bill was satisfied and put him in touch with some important people.
The young couple managed to wow investors with the Canva idea and already have their own team. In 2012, the board of directors was added by another co-founder, Cameron Adams.
In the initial phase of funding, the company received USD 1.5 million. In 2013, Canva was released to the public.
Over time, Canva has managed to attract the attention of many users due to its ease of use and quality.
The COVID-19 pandemic has actually made the company grow even more because many companies use Canva to create promotional materials online.
As of June 2020, Canva has 30 million active users worldwide. Perkins on the other hand also wants to donate a large part of his fortune. "If everything is just about building wealth, then that is the least inspiring thing. It's weird when people call us billionaires because we never feel like the money is ours, purely a deposit," concluded Perkins.
