Canva lays off 22% of staff

Online graphic powerhouse Canva has is reducing staff by about 1,200 people, amounting to about 22% of its staff, amidst a growth slowdown. According to Techcrunch, co-founder and CEO, Melanie Perkins, in a note to employees said while Canva has scaled so far, it needs to change to address slowing growth.

“Over the past thirteen years, we’ve turned a dream in a pitch deck into a platform used by hundreds of millions of people,” she wrote. “None of it would have been possible without the talent, imagination, and care of every single person who has been part of this journey. Yet success in our first chapter doesn’t guarantee success in the next. This has been our hardest year yet, and as we shared earlier this year, our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade.”

Canva is reshuffling its organizational chart and merging its product, growth, and platform teams to reduce communication friction, the company said, adding it is also reducing “subspecialisation,” which means its employees might be asked to take up more responsibilities. The company is also moving toward hybrid work and asking people to work from an office a few days a week.

The company has been shipping its own AI models to reduce costs and reliance on third-party models, but it still had to cut its revenue growth forecast to 20% from 30% to address ballooning AI costs, according to Startup Daily. This also resulted in Canva’s early investors cutting its valuation to about $35 billion earlier this year, according to Smart Company.