Canva Bets Big on AI to Fight Adobe and Supercharge Growth

Melanie Perkins remembers when her boyfriend and startup co-founder used to cook lunch for employees in the early days at Canva, their graphic design software business. The company has since become one of the most successful tech unicorns to emerge from Australia, but its staff still break together for lunch — although Cliff Obrecht, now her husband and chief operating officer, is no longer doing the cooking.

It’s an oft-told narrative meant to convey the down-to-earth values of the founders whose self-proclaimed goal is to democratize design with user-friendly software. It’s also a reflection of a quirky company whose employees call themselves Canvanauts and is, at $26 billion, the world’s most valuable female-led startup.