Melanie Perkins (born 1987) is an Australian technology entrepreneur. She is best known as for co-founding Canva, an online graphic design platform, with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams. She serves as the company's chief executive officer. Perkins previously co-founded Fusion Books, a web-based yearbook publisher.
In 2023, she was listed on the Forbes list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women[3] and 92nd in Fortune 's list of Most Powerful Women.[4]
Early life
Perkins was born in 1987 in Perth, Western Australia, to an Australian-born mother who worked as a teacher and a Malaysian engineer of Filipino and Sri Lankan heritage.[5][6] She attended Sacred Heart College,[7] a secondary school located in the northern Perth suburb of Sorrento. While at high school, Perkins trained seriously in figure skating and started a small business selling handmade scarves.[8][9]
After high school, Perkins enrolled at the University of Western Australia, majoring in communications, psychology and commerce.[10] 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 Obrech 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.[11]
Canva
Perkins and Obrech 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.[12]
Personal life
Perkins and Obrecht married in January 2021 on Rottnest Island.[13] Later that year, they joined the Giving Pledge, committing at least half of their fortune to philanthropic purposes.[14]
As of May 2025, the Australian Financial Review assessed Perkins' and Obrecht's joint net worth as A$14.14 billion.[15] As of February 2026, Forbes estimated Perkins' net worth at US$7.6 billion..[16]
External links
References
- Melanie Perkins and Ginia Rinehart revealed as Australia's youngest billionaires at age 36 news.com.au, 2023-09-01, retrieved 2024-05-04^
- Kate Stanton, Hywel Griffith. The 30-year-old woman who designed a $1bn business BBC, 10 January 2018, retrieved 16 July 2019^
- The World's Most Powerful Women 2023 Forbes^
- Most Powerful Women Fortune^
- Alex Konrad. Canva Uncovered: How A Young Australian Kitesurfer Built A $3.2 Billion (Profitable!) Startup Phenom Forbes, retrieved 2020-11-02^
- Contributing Writer. Part Filipino Melanie Perkins now Australia's third-richest woman 2020-07-10, retrieved 2026-03-15^
- How a Sacred Heart girl built a $1b tech empire The West Australian, 2018-05-07, retrieved 2020-11-02^
- Claire Connelly. From making scarves to building a $165 million tech start-up: Canva's Melanie Perkins The Sydney Morning Herald, 2015-10-06, retrieved 2020-11-02^
- Nina Zipkin. She Was Told 'No' 100 Times. Now This 31-Year-Old Female Founder Runs a $1 Billion Business. Entrepreneur, 2019-06-12, retrieved 2020-11-02^
- Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht Uniview, The University of Western Australia, 2017-11-03, retrieved 2020-11-02^
- Ruth Devine. Canva founder Melanie Perkins turned idea into billion-dollar business The CEO Magazine, April 29, 2020, retrieved 2025-08-10^
- Mark Whittaker. Creating Canva: How Cameron Adams helped build a $39 billion juggernaut Forbes Australia, 2024-02-21, retrieved 2025-08-10^
- Cara Waters. Canva co-founder backs Facebook's move to ban news, slams 'stupid' tech regulation The Sydney Morning Herald, 2021-02-22, retrieved 2021-02-23^
- Glenn Gamboa. Canva founders join Bill Gates' Giving Pledge to give away most of their fortune Sydney Morning Herald, 2021-12-15, retrieved 5 May 2024^
- Australia's wealthiest 200 revealed, fortunes blow past $667b Australian Financial Review, 30 May 2025, retrieved 31 May 2025^
- Melanie Perkins Forbes, retrieved 2022-01-31^