Canva announced that it will cut or relocate more than 1,200 positions, representing roughly 22 % of its worldwide staff. The company said the restructure will affect 1,271 employees in total. In an email to workers on Wednesday, chief executive Melanie Perkins described the move as the hardest moment in the firm’s thirteen-year history.
Employees who leave the firm will receive a minimum of six months’ salary and will retain health-care benefits for an additional twelve months in jurisdictions where such coverage is standard. The company also pledged that departing staff may keep their laptops, and it said it would provide comprehensive assistance to anyone asked to relocate, though it did not disclose how many will be moved.
The restructuring plan emphasizes “collapsing layers” within the organization and aims to bring more teams together in person, according to the internal memo. By streamlining management hierarchies and encouraging face-to-face collaboration, Canva hopes to improve efficiency and speed of product development, a shift that mirrors broader moves by software firms to adapt to rapidly evolving market pressures.
Founded in Australia, Canva has become one of the country’s most celebrated startups and has long been viewed as a candidate for a high-profile Nasdaq listing. Its rapid growth has been driven by a user-friendly design platform that serves millions worldwide, positioning the company as a notable example of successful tech entrepreneurship emerging from the Australian ecosystem.
Canva’s downsizing joins a wave of recent tech sector restructurings, including 1,600 redundancies at Atlassian and job cuts at Block, the owner of Afterpay, as well as at WiseTech Global. These moves reflect mounting pressure on software firms to stay competitive against cheaper artificial-intelligence driven alternatives, prompting many to overhaul business models or embed AI capabilities more aggressively.
Industry commentators have warned of a “SaaS-pocalypse,” a scenario where advanced AI renders specialised software obsolete, yet many established firms have dismissed the notion while still revising strategies. Unlike Atlassian, Block and WiseTech, Canva’s announcement made no reference to AI, suggesting the company may be handling the competitive threat differently or keeping its plans private.