Melanie Perkins: The Billionaire Underdog from Down Under

Before she became one of the richest self-made women in the world, Melanie Perkins was a teenager in Perth, Australia, making scarves by hand and selling them at local markets. Today, she’s the CEO and co-founder of Canva, the design software platform that’s used by over 170 million people across 190 countries.

Her story isn’t a tech fairytale. It’s a rare kind of entrepreneurial path—quiet, relentless, and built far outside the usual power centers of Silicon Valley.

Melanie Perkins was born in 1987 in Perth, Australia. Her father, an engineer of Sri Lankan and Filipino descent, and her Australian-born mother, a schoolteacher, raised her with an emphasis on learning, resourcefulness, and creativity. The family lived simply, but warmly. Melanie often credits her parents for encouraging her curiosity and drive.

She attended a public high school, later enrolling at the University of Western Australia to study communications and commerce. While tutoring students in graphic design, Melanie noticed a common frustration: professional software like Adobe Photoshop and InDesign were too complex and expensive for everyday users. Her students struggled to grasp even the basics.

That insight led to her first startup, Fusion Books. At just 19, Melanie partnered with her then-boyfriend (now husband) Cliff Obrecht to create a simple online tool that let students design and print personalized yearbooks. They launched the business from her mom’s living room, doing everything themselves—customer support, software development, and even shipping.

Fusion Books grew steadily, eventually expanding to New Zealand and France. But Melanie had a bigger idea—one that would go far beyond yearbooks.

She wanted to build a platform that made design as simple and universal as typing in a Google Doc. She wanted to empower anyone, anywhere in the world, to create beautiful content without needing a degree in design.

Melanie’s ambition wasn’t modest. She wanted to take on Adobe — one of the most entrenched and sophisticated software ecosystems in the world. So, in 2011, she and Cliff boarded a plane for Silicon Valley.

What followed was a brutal grind. They pitched their vision for Canva to over 100 venture capitalists. Most weren’t interested. Some flat-out told her they didn’t believe a woman from Perth could build a global tech platform. Others didn’t think design could ever be “democratized.”

Still, Melanie persisted. She cold-emailed investors, booked coffee meetings, and attended tech networking events as a complete outsider. Finally, one connection proved pivotal: venture capitalist and kite-surfing enthusiast Bill Tai agreed to meet.

While Tai didn’t immediately write a check, he was intrigued. He invited Melanie to one of his kite-surfing founder retreats in Bali — where promising entrepreneurs mingled with investors, engineers, and other influential technologists. Melanie didn’t kite-surf, but she showed up anyway. She continued refining her pitch, built relationships, and slowly gained momentum.

Over the next two years, Melanie assembled a founding team that included ex-Google engineer Cameron Adams. In 2012, the company secured its first round of seed funding of $3 million from Tai, Lars Rasmussen (co-founder of Google Maps), and a few other early believers.

In 2013, Canva officially launched.

The demand was immediate. Within the first month, over 50,000 people had signed up. Users were thrilled to find that they could create professional-quality designs, like social media graphics, presentations, resumes, posters, or even marketing kits, without expensive software or design experience.

Canva’s early success came from its laser focus on user experience. Everything about the product was designed to be intuitive, accessible, and visual. Templates were pre-built. Drag-and-drop functionality was seamless. Collaborating with a team was as easy as sharing a Google Doc.

By 2015, Canva had reached 5 million users. By 2017, it had 10 million. But the company wasn’t just focused on scale — it was also profitable. That same year, Canva hit cash flow–positive status, an unusual milestone for a high-growth tech company.

Melanie’s leadership remained steady and unflashy. She prioritized long-term sustainability over rapid hype cycles. Canva continued to expand product features—introducing video editing, website design, and real-time collaboration tools. The platform became a critical tool not just for small business owners and teachers, but for enterprise users and global organizations.

Today, Canva serves 170 million users across 190 countries. The company’s tools are available in more than 100 languages and have enabled the creation of over 15 billion designs. Canva is now used by 90% of Fortune 500 companies, including Zoom, Salesforce, PayPal, and Marriott. Even the United Nations uses Canva for its internal design needs.

In 2021, Canva raised a round of funding that pushed its valuation to $40 billion. Although market adjustments have since reset that valuation closer to $26 billion, the fundamentals remain rock-solid: strong revenue, huge user base, continued profitability, and a passionate global community.

Melanie still serves as CEO. She and Cliff retain majority ownership, giving them long-term control over the company’s direction — a rare feat in the tech world.

And they’ve pledged to give away the majority of their wealth through The Giving Pledge.

Despite their billionaire status, Melanie and Cliff are known for their grounded lifestyle and deep commitment to giving back. They live relatively modestly, remain based in Australia, and are often seen biking to work or grabbing coffee in the neighborhood like any other couple. Friends and colleagues describe them as low-key, fiercely values-driven, and completely uninterested in fame for fame’s sake.

Both are deeply involved in Canva’s day-to-day leadership and continue to work side-by-side in the Sydney headquarters. Through Canva’s philanthropic initiatives, employee equity model, and free design access for nonprofits, Melanie and Cliff are actively redefining what it means to lead a tech company in the 21st century.

Canva’s growth has never come at the expense of its culture. The company employs more than 4,000 people and is consistently ranked as one of the best places to work in Australia. It operates with a set of core values, including “Be a good human,” “Set crazy big goals,” and “Empower others”, which are deeply embedded in both team operations and product strategy.

Canva also operates a free tier for nonprofits, students, and educators, which is a core part of Melanie’s mission to make design accessible for all.

“We started Canva because we wanted to solve a real problem,” she said in a keynote. “But we also wanted to build a company that gave back to the world.”

She has stayed out of the spotlight, rarely courting the media. She gives few interviews, avoids personal branding, and prefers to let the work — and the product — speak for itself.

And it’s that combination of tenacity and humility that has made Melanie the world’s most successful female founder.

1. Start where you are.
Melanie didn’t grow up with venture capital in her backyard. She had a laptop, a local problem to solve, and the guts to get started — that’s all you need.

2. Let rejection build resilience.
She heard “no” over 100 times before getting her first check. But each rejection sharpened her pitch, deepened her conviction, and clarified her mission. That persistence is the difference between a dream and a business.

3. Solve for everyday users.
Melanie didn’t build Canva for experts. She built it for teachers, side hustlers, community leaders, small business owners, and students, which became Canva’s greatest strength.

4. Stay in control.
Melanie structured Canva to maintain majority ownership. That control allowed her to keep the company aligned with her values, reinvest in product innovation, and avoid the pressure of short-term financial exits.

5. Build culture as seriously as product.
From hiring to philanthropy, Canva’s team operates on trust, empowerment, and long-term thinking. Melanie understands that a great product can attract users—but a great culture keeps a company resilient and innovative over time.

Melanie Perkins didn’t fit the mold of the typical Silicon Valley founder, and she never tried to.

She pitched 100 times and kept showing up. She built a product that real people needed. She gave away equity generously but kept enough to protect her vision.

In an era where hype often outweighs impact, Melanie is a refreshing reminder that the most powerful leaders don’t have to be the loudest. They just need to keep building.

So if you’re wondering whether your background, location, or resume disqualifies you from building something world-changing, think again:

Melanie started with scarves.
Now, she runs a $26 billion global platform.

What would you build if you stopped waiting for permission?