Canva Cuts 1,271 Roles as Melanie Perkins Calls It "the Hardest Moment" in the Company's 13-Year History

Canva, the Australian design platform that became one of the world's most valuable privately held software companies, is restructuring its business. 1,271 roles, about 22% of its workforce, will be cut, relocated or changed, in what co-founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins described as the hardest moment in the company's history.

Perkins announced the changes in a memo to staff on Tuesday, November 3. The restructuring will merge Canva's product, growth and platform teams into a single organisation, reduce layers of management and move more product teams to its headquarters in Sydney.

The move marks a significant shift for a company that has grown rapidly since its founding in 2013 and has rarely made large-scale job cuts.

"The hardest moment"

In her memo, Perkins was candid about the reasons for the restructuring. She described it as "the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history" and acknowledged that the company's growth had slowed.

"Our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade," she wrote. She also said that "small changes won't be enough", signalling that the company's leadership believed a more fundamental reorganisation was needed to respond to changing conditions.

Perkins' openness about the slowdown is unusual among technology leaders, who often describe restructurings in more general terms. Her direct acknowledgement of the challenges reflects a leadership style that has been central to Canva's culture.

Support for departing employees

Canva said employees who leave the company as a result of the restructuring will receive at least six months' pay and 12 months of healthcare coverage. The package is more generous than those offered in many technology industry layoffs, where severance is often limited to a few weeks or months.

The company has built a reputation as an employee-focused workplace, with a strong emphasis on its mission and values. The severance terms appear intended to soften the impact on affected staff and preserve trust among those who remain.

Not all the affected roles will be eliminated. Some employees will be offered positions in different teams or locations, including Sydney, as part of the effort to bring more product development closer to the company's leadership.

Why Canva's growth has slowed

Canva's slowdown comes amid major changes in the market for design and creative software. The rapid rise of generative AI tools, which can create images, presentations and designs from simple text prompts, has transformed expectations of what design software can do.

Canva has invested heavily in AI features, integrating generative tools into its platform to help users create content more quickly. But those investments come at a cost. Running AI models requires significant computing power, which has increased Canva's expenses.

In August 2026, the company cut its revenue growth forecast from about 30% to about 20%, citing the costs of AI. The change marked a notable shift for a company that had consistently grown rapidly for many years.

Competition has also intensified. Large technology companies and AI startups are offering design and content creation tools, some built directly into productivity software and AI assistants. Canva must compete with these offerings while continuing to serve its large base of individual, small business and enterprise customers.

A simpler, flatter structure

The restructuring is designed to make Canva faster and more focused. Merging the product, growth and platform teams is intended to reduce duplication and improve coordination across the company. Fewer layers of management should speed up decision-making.

Moving more product teams to Sydney reflects a desire to concentrate core development closer to the company's leadership. Canva has expanded internationally, with offices in several countries, and the reorganisation suggests leadership wants tighter control over product direction during a period of rapid change.

Many technology companies have made similar moves in recent years, flattening their structures and cutting management layers in the name of efficiency. In Canva's case, the changes are also a response to the pressures created by AI, both as an opportunity and as a source of competition and cost.

Melanie Perkins' leadership journey

Melanie Perkins is one of the world's most prominent women technology founders. She co-founded Canva in Perth in 2013 with Cliff Obrecht, who is also her husband, and Cameron Adams.

The idea for Canva came from Perkins' experience teaching design programs as a university student. She found that existing software was complicated and hard to learn, and she set out to build a simpler tool that anyone could use. Before Canva, she and Obrecht ran Fusion Books, an online yearbook design business, which served as a proof of concept.

Perkins famously faced many rejections from investors in Canva's early days. Her persistence paid off as Canva grew into a global platform used by many millions of people. The company was valued at about $42 billion in an employee share sale in August 2025.

Perkins and Obrecht have pledged to give away most of their wealth through the Canva Foundation, a commitment that has added to her profile as a mission-driven leader.

Significance for women in technology

Canva's restructuring will be closely watched in part because of Perkins' position as one of very few women to have built and led a technology company to a valuation of tens of billions of dollars. How she manages this period could shape perceptions of women founders' leadership in difficult times.

Her open and empathetic approach to communicating the restructuring, acknowledging the difficulty and offering strong support to departing employees, has drawn attention. For women entrepreneurs and leaders around the world, including in India, Perkins remains an influential example.

Implications for the wider industry

Canva's decision reflects broader trends in the technology industry. Many software companies are rethinking their strategies as AI changes how products are built and used. Some are cutting jobs in areas where AI can automate work, while investing heavily in AI capabilities.

The cost of AI is becoming a significant factor for software companies. Running AI models at scale requires expensive computing resources, which can squeeze margins unless companies can charge more or become more efficient.

For investors, Canva's experience is a reminder that even fast-growing technology companies can face slowdowns when the competitive landscape shifts. Canva has long been seen as a candidate for a public listing, and the restructuring may affect the timing of any IPO.

Canva's significance in India

Canva has a large user base in India, where its free and low-cost tools have become popular with students, small businesses, educators and content creators. India is one of the platform's largest markets by number of users.

Changes in Canva's strategy and product development could affect how the platform evolves for these users. The company's continued investment in AI features is likely to remain a priority, given the competition from AI-native design tools.

What comes next

The success of Canva's restructuring will depend on whether the company can return to faster growth while managing the costs of AI. Investors and employees will watch for signs that the new structure is delivering faster product development and better results.

Perkins has led Canva through many challenges since its founding. This restructuring, by her own description, is the hardest. How the company emerges from it will be an important test of her leadership and of Canva's ability to thrive in an era transformed by AI.