Canva is cutting 1,271 jobs, 22% of its workforce, as co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins describes the design platform as facing its "hardest year yet."
Canva grew from a startup into a platform used by hundreds of millions, valued at $35 billion not long ago. That trajectory is now reversing.
"Success in our first chapter doesn't guarantee success in the next," Perkins wrote to staff. The design-software boom has cooled, and Canva faces pressure from AI tools. The company is building homegrown AI models to cut costs, but revenue growth forecasts have dropped from 30% to 20%.
When the Underdog Becomes the Hunted
Canva built its business by making design accessible to everyday creators. Now it competes against ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI systems that generate posters and presentations in seconds. Users may not need a dedicated design tool if a chatbot handles the work.
Canva is restructuring teams, merging product and growth divisions, and moving toward hybrid work schedules. Survivors will absorb more responsibilities with fewer resources.
Perkins avoided euphemisms. She could have called this "optimization" or a "strategic refocus." Instead, she described a decade of growth hitting a limit. Early investors already cut the company's valuation to $35 billion this year, a sharp reversal for a company unaccustomed to contraction.
The layoffs reflect a wider tech problem: building AI tools does not solve disruption if your business model depends on being the incumbent. Canva's users may soon recognize that free tools, Gmail, ChatGPT, Gemini, handle 80% of what they use Canva for. No internal restructuring resolves that problem immediately.
Further cost cuts are likely before year's end. Canva has shifted from growth to defense.
