Melanie Perkins
About Melanie Perkins
Melanie Perkins is cofounder and CEO of design software maker Canva, which was valued by private investors at $42 billion in August 2025.
Canva was launched in 2013 by Perkins, now-husband Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams in Sydney, Australia, but was met by investor skepticism due to its location.
Like Obrecht, Perkins 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.
Personal stats
Citizenship
AustraliaSource of wealth
SoftwareResidence
Sydney, AustraliaMarital status
MarriedBirth date
05/13/87 (age 38)Education
Drop Out, University of Western AustraliaSelf-made
self-madeMelanie Perkins’s fortune is worth
troy ounces of gold
median U.S. household
median U.S. income
U.S. credit card volume
GDP of the United States
United States debt
Net worth history
Annual ranking
Related people
Did you know?
Perkins learned kitesurfing in an effort to receive an investment from a group of kiteboard enthusiast venture capitalists, including angel investor Bill Tai.
Net worth over time
Real-time ranking
Images © Forbes.com. All rights reserved.