Australian design software company Canva is restructuring its operations, affecting 1,271 employees, as slowing growth and rising artificial intelligence costs force the company to rethink its business strategy.
Canva, one of Australia’s best-known technology start-ups, has announced a major restructuring that will affect about 22 per cent of its workforce, including job losses, role changes and employee relocations.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Melanie Perkins described the decision as the most difficult in the company’s 13-year history, saying 1,271 employees would be affected by the changes.
In a message to staff, Perkins acknowledged that the company had experienced a difficult year, with growth slowing for the first time in a decade.
“It has been our hardest year yet, and as we shared earlier this year, our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade,” she said.
She added that the restructuring would involve significant changes, including asking some employees to relocate to centralised offices, while others would be required to take on different responsibilities. Some workers would also lose their jobs.
“For some people, this will mean changes to their roles or being asked to relocate to centralised hubs. Sadly, it will also mean saying goodbye to teammates and friends who have helped build Canva into what it is today,” Perkins said.
The restructuring comes as the company faces mounting pressure from the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), which is reshaping the design software industry and changing how customers create and consume digital content.
Canva has reportedly experienced a decline in its valuation over the past year amid investor concerns about AI’s potential impact on its business model and the substantial cost of integrating the technology into its products.
Two of its investors, Blackbird Ventures and Airtree, reportedly reduced their valuation of the company from A$60 billion at the end of last year to approximately A$49 billion earlier this year.
Canva has also reportedly lowered its internal valuation as expenditure on AI development and the rollout of new products continues to rise.
Perkins acknowledged that technological changes were transforming the creative industry and raising customer expectations.
“New technology is transforming what people can create, how they create it, and what they expect from the products they use,” she said.
As part of the restructuring, Sydney will become the primary base for more of Canva’s product development teams. The company, which operates across 37 countries, will also introduce changes to its hybrid working arrangements.
Beginning next year, employees currently working under hybrid arrangements will be expected to spend between two and three days weekly in the office.
Founded in 2013 by Perkins, who left university at 19 to pursue entrepreneurship, Canva has grown into a global design platform used by individuals, businesses and organisations.
The company provides accessible design tools and templates that enable users without professional graphic design skills to create presentations, marketing materials, social media graphics, invitations and other visual content.
Its growth has been driven largely by simplifying graphic design and making creative tools available to a wider audience.
However, the emergence of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered design platforms is intensifying competition and challenging established players to rethink their products, operating models and cost structures.
The latest restructuring highlights the growing pressure on technology companies to adapt to the AI revolution, even as they contend with slower growth, rising development costs and changing investor expectations.
