Melanie Perkins
$7.6B
Born
May 13, 1987
Age
38
Source of Wealth
Software
Residence
,
Citizenship
Australia
Marital Status
Married
Children
0
Education
Drop Out, University of Western Australia
- Melanie Perkins is cofounder and CEO of design software maker Canva, which was valued by private investors at $42 billion in August 2025.
- Canva was launched in 2013 by Perkins, now-husband Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams in Sydney, Australia, but was met by investor skepticism due to its location.
- Like Obrecht, Perkins owns an estimated 18% stake. The couple has pledged to transfer more than 80% of their stake to the Canva Foundation for charitable causes.
- Defying the doubts, Canva has attracted 240 million monthly users to its freemium software, with 6 million teams from companies like Zoom paying for it.
- Canva's software enables the creation of attractive visuals for menus, resumes and Instagram graphics.
- Perkins learned kitesurfing in an effort to receive an investment from a group of kiteboard enthusiast venture capitalists, including angel investor Bill Tai.
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