Cliff Obrecht

About Cliff Obrecht

Cliff Obrecht is cofounder and chief operating officer of design software maker Canva, which was valued by private investors at $42 billion in August 2025.

Canva was launched in 2013 by Obrecht, now-wife Melanie Perkins and Cameron Adams in Sydney, Australia, but was met by investor skepticism due to its location.

Like Perkins, Obrecht owns an estimated 18% stake. The couple has pledged to transfer more than 80% of their stake to the Canva Foundation for charitable causes.

Defying the doubts, Canva has attracted 240 million monthly users to its freemium software, with 6 million teams from companies like Zoom paying for it.

Canva's software enables the creation of attractive visuals for menus, resumes and Instagram graphics.