Melanie Perkins (born 1987) is an Australian technology entrepreneur and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Canva, an online graphic design platform. She previously co-founded Fusion Books, a web-based yearbook publisher.
Perkins was born in 1987 in Perth, Western Australia, to an Australian-born teacher and a Malaysian engineer of Filipino and Sri Lankan heritage.[5] She attended Sacred Heart College,[6] a secondary school located in the northern Perth suburb of Sorrento. While high school, Perkins trained seriously in figure skating and started a small business selling handmade scarves.[7][8]
After high school, Perkins enrolled at the University of Western Australia, majoring in communications, psychology and commerce.[9] At this time, Perkins was also a private tutor for students learning graphic design. Perkins has said the slow learning curve of traditional design tools prompted her to explore simpler, web-based alternatives. She left university at age 19 to pursue a startup with Cliff Obrecht.[5]
Career
Fusion Books
In 2007, Perkins and Obrecht founded Fusion Books, which let schools create yearbooks using an online drag-and-drop editor and template library. The business grew in Australia and later operated in New Zealand and France.[10]
Canva
Perkins and Obrecht began pitching a broader design platform in the early 2010s and met investor Bill Tai during a visit to Perth. Through Google Maps co-creator Lars Rasmussen, who advised the project, they were introduced to former Google designer Cameron Adams, who joined in 2012 and became Canva’s third co-founder and chief product officer. Canva launched publicly in 2013 and has reported periods of profitability as it scaled.[11]
Personal life
Perkins and Obrecht married in January 2021 on Rottnest Island.[12] Later that year, they joined the Giving Pledge, committing at least half of their fortune to philanthropic purposes.[13]
As of May2025[update], the Australian Financial Review assessed Perkins' and Obrecht's joint net worth as A$14.14billion.[14] As of August 2025, Forbes estimated Perkins' net worth at $5.8 billion (USD).[15]
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