Buyers in Canva must wait till no less than 2027 in the event that they need to money in on the general public market, with the Australian “AI” enterprise confirming it received’t IPO this 12 months.
However because the enterprise held its annual product launch in California, ramping up its AI credentials after a 12 months of publicly checklist SaaS tech corporations seeing their share costs hammered, Canva’s billionaire cofounder and chief working officer Cliff Obrecht told Capital Brief, a visitor on the shindig, that because the graphic design platform’s core enterprise mannequin shifts to AI – with out going full Allbirds – a US itemizing received’t be taking place this 12 months.
That implies that except there are additional secondary market gross sales of Canva shares, which last traded hands at a A$65 billion valuation in August 2025, traders must wait no less than one other 9-12 months earlier than an exit from the US-domiciled Australian firm, based in 2013.
Obrecht told Capital Brief that Canva was “totally IPO prepared”, however they “need to be sure that the evolution of this enterprise mannequin is basically bedded in so we’re not having to elucidate ourselves to the market by way of a transitional interval.”
Pressed in regards to the timing of the IPO by reporter Bronwen Clune, who was Canva’s visitor on the Los Angeles occasion, Obrecht mentioned “I assume it will likely be subsequent 12 months.”
The COO has been busy within the final couple of years shopping for slightly than constructing Canva’s AI credentials, having acquired eight startups in simply two years.
Acquisition spree
Final week it was Simtheory, an AI collaboration and agent management platform, and Ortto, a buyer information and advertising automation firm – each constructed by the founders of accomodation platform Stayz – in a $100m+ deal. That got here a fortnight after spending a rumoured $30 million on digital outdoor advertising startup Doohly. Canva’s devoured up 5 startups within the first 15 weeks of 2026, together with US startup Mango.AI while it was still in stealth mode, as well as the UK’s Cavalry.
Since 2024, Canva’s nabbed UK rival Affinity and native generative AI platform Leonardo in addition to MagicBrief.
Obrecht’s one-brand AI busking band led to the annual reveal of the brand new, improved Canva, in a single day in Los Angeles.
As SmartCompany’s Tegan Jones astutely observed, whereas the replace “seems like a well-known wave of AI options: conversational design instruments, automated workflows, and integrations with different office apps” on the floor, broader ambitions look like at play.
“Somewhat than merely enhancing how folks design, Canva is shifting into the work that surrounds it. Canva will be capable of pull data from throughout emails, conferences and paperwork earlier than reworking that information right into a completed product. That sort of behaviour begins to put it in nearer competitors with the workflow and productiveness instruments that already sit on the centre of day-to-day work,” she writes.
“If this trajectory continues, it raises a longer-term query: will we see the likes of ‘Canva OS’ in 5 years time?”
That appears like one thing affected person traders would watch for.
