Canva lays off over 1,200 people amid slowing growth
Canva is cutting 22% of its staff as it faces its 'hardest year' yet.
Key points
- Canva is cutting 22% of its staff, or 1,271 people, as growth slows.
- CEO Melanie Perkins said growth has slowed for the first time in a decade.
- Canva cut its revenue growth forecast to 20% from 30% due to AI costs.
Design software maker Canva is laying off 22% of its workforce, a total of 1,271 people, amid a slowdown in growth. Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins announced the cuts in a note to employees.
Perkins said the company has grown over the past thirteen years but must change to address the slowdown. She described this as Canva's hardest year yet.
Changes to how staff work
Canva is reorganizing its structure, merging its product, growth and platform teams to reduce communication friction. It is also reducing "subspecialisation," meaning employees may be asked to take on more responsibilities.
The company is moving toward hybrid work and asking staff to be in an office a few days a week.
This has been our hardest year yet, and as we shared earlier this year, our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade
— Melanie Perkins
Costs and competition
Canva has been releasing its own AI models to cut costs and reduce reliance on third-party models, but it still lowered its revenue growth forecast to 20% from 30% to address rising AI costs. Early investors cut its valuation to about $35 billion earlier this year.
The company also faces growing competition from AI startups and general-purpose chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini, whose image generation tools let people easily create posters and presentations.
