Canva Cuts 1,271 Jobs After Growth Slows for First Time in a Decade

Canva is restructuring 1,271 positions — roughly 22% of its workforce — through a mix of layoffs, forced relocations and role changes, according to a note from co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins to staff reported by the BBC. The design-software company, which employs people across 37 countries, called it "without doubt the hardest moment" in its 13-year history.

What exactly did Canva change?

The move is not a single layoff announcement. Perkins' note splits the 1,271 affected roles into three buckets: employees who lose their jobs outright, employees asked to relocate to a company hub, and employees whose roles change in scope or function. "For some people, this will mean changes to their roles or being asked to relocate to centralised hubs," Perkins wrote, adding it will also mean "saying goodbye to teammates and friends."

Where will remaining staff work?

Sydney becomes the "primary home" for more of Canva's product teams under the plan, the BBC reported. Separately, the company is tightening its hybrid-work rule: starting next year, hybrid employees must be in the office two to three days a week, up from the current arrangement. The two changes are linked — centralizing product teams in one hub makes an in-office attendance floor easier to enforce.

Why is Canva doing this now?

Perkins tied the decision directly to a slowdown that began earlier this year. "Our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade," she wrote, calling 2026 "our hardest year yet." She also pointed to the cost side of the ledger: "New technology is transforming what people can create, how they create it, and what they expect from the products they use." The BBC reported that Canva's own expenses have risen as it builds AI features into its platform, even as AI-generated design tools raise the bar for what customers expect for free.

"Without doubt the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history." — Melanie Perkins, Canva co-founder and CEO

How has Canva's valuation moved?

By the numbers:

• Canva will cut, relocate or change roles for 1,271 people — 22% of its workforce
• Backers Blackbird Ventures and Airtree reportedly cut their valuation of Canva from A$60bn ($41.8bn) at the end of last year to about A$49bn, per the BBC
• Canva has also reportedly lowered its own internal valuation
• Hybrid staff will owe 2–3 days a week in the office starting next year

Neither Canva nor its CEO disclosed the company's current internal valuation figure in the note the BBC cited.

What does this say about AI's pressure on design software?

Canva's cost problem — paying to build AI into its product while AI tools elsewhere erode the need for template-based design software — mirrors a broader shift in enterprise software spending toward AI-native tools, a dynamic tracked separately by HTT's AI Productivity Hub. Canva, founded by Perkins in 2013 after she left university at 19, built its business on letting non-designers produce graphics without technical skill — the same low-friction promise that general AI tools now compete to deliver.

Canva did not specify in the materials reviewed how many of the 1,271 roles fall into each of the three categories — terminated, relocated, or reassigned — nor did it give a timeline for completing the changes beyond the hybrid policy taking effect next year.