Melanie Perkins at Village Global’s The Grove, November 2019.
Canva is restructuring in a way that affects 1,271 people, or 22% of the company. Some staff will lose their jobs, others will change roles and some will be asked to relocate. Co-founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins announced the changes in a note to staff on Wednesday, which Canva published.
“This is without doubt the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history,” Perkins wrote.
The note does not say how many of the 1,271 will lose their jobs. It is Canva’s first round of job cuts since its founding in 2013, Tiffany Li reported for The Information .
Perkins said the company’s growth had slowed for the first time in a decade. In August, Canva cut its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20%, the Australian Financial Review reported. That month, two of its backers and Canva itself cut its valuation .
“New technology is transforming what people can create, how they create it, and what they expect from the products they use,” Perkins wrote.
She said small changes would not be enough. Canva needs to “refound” itself around small teams that make their own decisions, she wrote.
Canva is merging its Product, Growth and Platform teams into one Product Org. It is folding narrow specialist roles into broader ones and cutting layers of management.
Sydney will become the main base for more of its product teams and some other roles. Canva will ask some staff to move there. From January, most hybrid workers will be expected in the office two to three days a week.
Canva has staff in 37 countries. The timing of talks with affected staff will vary with local rules, the note says.
Everyone leaving will get at least six months’ salary, including statutory entitlements, wherever they are based. Canva is also removing the one-year vesting cliff for people who joined in the past year.
Departing staff get 12 months of healthcare where Canva already provides it. They also get 12 months of its employee assistance programme, career coaching and a year of LinkedIn Premium. They can keep their Canva MacBooks.
A new Canva Collective Fund will give US$10,000 grants to departing staff who want to start a venture. Canva will take no ownership or equity in what they create. Applications close on 14 December.
Canva will hold a company all-hands meeting on 10 November. Perkins cancelled non-critical meetings for the rest of the week. Staff can take the day off without logging it as leave, she wrote.
The company had 260 million monthly users and $3.5bn in revenue last year, it said in its 2025 review . On Monday, Squarespace said it is laying off 19% of its staff. Last month, Microsoft offered buyouts to 60,000 employees.
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.
