Melanie Perkins is the Australian co-founder and chief executive of Canva, the drag-and-drop design platform used by hundreds of millions of people in 190 countries. She built one of the world’s most valuable private technology companies from Sydney — after more than a hundred investors turned her down — and did it without relocating to Silicon Valley.
| Full Name | Melanie Perkins |
| Born | 13 March 1987, Perth, Western Australia |
| Age | 39 (as of 2026) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur; co-founder and CEO of Canva |
| Known For | Canva, Fusion Books |
| Net Worth (est.) | Several billion US dollars — around $5 billion in 2025 Bloomberg and Australian Financial Review estimates |
Early Life: Perth and a Side Business at University
Perkins grew up in Perth, Western Australia, attended Sacred Heart College, and studied communications and commerce at the University of Western Australia. To pay her way she taught design programs such as Photoshop to other students — and discovered how needlessly complicated the software was: mastering a single program took a whole semester, for tools most people needed only a few times. The frustration planted the idea that design should be simple, collaborative and online. At 19 she skipped finishing her degree to build a business around the idea with her boyfriend, Cliff Obrecht.
Fusion Books: The Yearbook Detour
Working from her mother’s lounge room in Perth, Perkins and Obrecht first launched Fusion Books in 2007, an online system that let schools design their own yearbooks using simple drag-and-drop tools. It worked: Fusion Books grew into one of Australia’s biggest yearbook publishers, printing yearbooks for hundreds of schools. But the couple always saw it as a proof of concept for the much bigger ambition — a single platform for every kind of design, from presentations and posters to social posts and logos.
100 Rejections and the Launch of Canva
Pitching that bigger idea was brutal. Perkins has said she was rejected by more than 100 investors over three years; early fundraising trips to San Francisco required learning to kitesurf, because a key angel investor took founders kitesurfing. A breakthrough came when the ex-Google engineer Cameron Adams agreed to join as third co-founder, bringing the technical firepower investors wanted. Canva finally launched in Sydney in August 2013, and in 2014 Google veteran Guy Kawasaki came aboard as chief evangelist, giving the young Australian company global credibility.
Canva’s Rise and Melanie Perkins’ Net Worth
Canva has since grown to well over 200 million monthly users, a workforce in the thousands, and revenue in the billions; a reported 2025 share sale valued the company at about US$42 billion, making it one of the most valuable private tech firms in the world and Australia’s defining start-up success. Perkins’ own fortune comes from her founding stake: Bloomberg and Australian Financial Review rich-list estimates have placed her net worth in the US$4–6 billion range in 2025, alongside Obrecht. The exact figure depends on Canva’s private valuation, which moves with each funding round — and Perkins and Obrecht have pledged the vast majority of their equity to charitable causes through the Canva Foundation.
Personal Life
Perkins married her co-founder Cliff Obrecht in January 2021 in a small ceremony on Rottnest Island, off Perth. The couple live in Sydney and are known for a comparatively low-key lifestyle despite their paper billions; their stated mission for Canva is famously two-step — step one, build one of the most valuable companies in the world; step two, use that wealth to do the most good possible. Perkins remains one of the very few women anywhere running a technology company at Canva’s scale. Despite the rejections that defined her early years, she still personally reads user feedback and is known inside the company for marathon product-review sessions and ambitious decade-long planning.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Melanie Perkins?
She was born on 13 March 1987, making her 39 years old in 2026.
Who founded Canva?
Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams launched Canva in Sydney, Australia, in 2013.
What is Melanie Perkins’ net worth?
Estimates from Bloomberg and the Australian Financial Review put her fortune at roughly US$5 billion in 2025, based on her Canva stake; the figure moves with Canva’s private valuation.
How many investors rejected Canva?
By Perkins’ own account, more than 100 investors passed before Canva secured the backing to launch.
Related Biographies
Whitney Wolfe Herd and Brian Chesky — more in our Entrepreneurs & Founders collection.
Net worth and salary figures are estimates based on publicly available sources and may change over time.
