Which startup was founded by Melanie Perkins?

Melanie Perkins founded Canva, the online design platform, with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams.

The idea grew from Perkins’s experience teaching graphic design at the University of Western Australia. She found professional design software difficult for beginners, and in 2007 she and Obrecht launched Fusion Books, an online yearbook business. That earlier venture helped them test the simpler, template-based design approach that later became Canva.

Perkins and Obrecht brought former Google designer Cameron Adams into the project in 2012. Canva was founded in Perth and launched publicly in 2013, offering browser-based drag-and-drop design tools for presentations, posters, social graphics, and more. A common mix-up is crediting Perkins as Canva’s sole founder: she was the project’s leading co-founder and became CEO, but Obrecht and Adams were also co-founders. Canva is also distinct from PicMonkey, Sketch, and Figma, which are competing or neighbouring design products rather than companies founded by Perkins.