Australian design giant Canva is making new millionaires after opening a massive employee share sale that values the company at $42 billion, the company said on August 20. Filipino employees are among those able to cash in, as the share sale allows staff and early investors to sell their existing shares to new backers. This comes ahead of a reported initial public offering (IPO), which would allow the wider public to buy shares.
Canva employees already hold shares or stock options, a common practice in startups where staff are given equity on top of salaries. These shares are usually illiquid, which means that employees cannot sell them freely. But this recent share sale provides rare liquidity, letting workers turn their paper equity into real cash, in some cases millions, overnight.
According to Canva, this funding round is led by shareholder Fidelity Management, while JPMorgan’s asset management division joins as a new investor.
Reuters reports that the company has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) tools for its users. “Identifying companies that can provide investors with pivotal exposure to breakthrough work in AI is an important pillar of our research in active management,” said JPMorgan portfolio manager Felise Agranoff. “We believe that Canva stands out in the design sector and can help create long-term value for investors.”
The company also said that demand has exceeded the number of shares available. COO Cliff Obrecht, who co-founded the company in 2013 with his wife CEO Melanie Perkins and CPO Cameron Adams, said, “This round has been significantly oversubscribed, which is a huge testament to the incredible work of our team and the impact Canva is having around the world.”
Fortune reports that Canva’s last funding round was in October 2024, when the company was valued at $32 billion. The design company now has 240 million active users, with 27 million paying to use Canva services and products. Experts also told Fortune that the company may go public in 2026, as design platform Figma went public in July 2025 at $18.8 billion, far below Canva’s current $42 billion valuation.
