Canva acquiring Zeetings shows more than just their success
Canva has made waves again, this time with an acquisition.
With a mission to ‘put an end to death by Powerpoint’, they’ve acquired online interactive presentation tool Zeetings for an undisclosed amount.
The staff of Zeetings will join the Canva team and create a power team to disrupt the design industry.
This comes right after Canva joined the ranks of being a Unicorn in January, right after a US$ 40 million funding by Sequoia China and existing investors Blackbird Ventures and Felicis Ventures.
So what does it mean?
Canva’s success is definitely a boost for the Australia startup community.
With investments flying in from various places, what does it show?
There is much we can read from the interaction with the investment and the purpose of the company.
With Canva, it was birth from a need, a dire need to make design attainable and accessible to everyone.
An actual issue that affects a lot of people, because designing is a skill that most of us may not have.
Even though it is not a skill we have, we need it at the same time.
Hence, there is a reason for design courses and various designing skills that people spend years developing to be appreciated for this skill they’ve achieved.
However, for many of us with other aspirations, designing is not something we want to dwell too deep into, but we also realised that design is vital in this world.
Because design is complicated and intimidating for non-designers, Canva became the prince of this damsel in distress situation we all face.
And they have done extremely well, apart from all the financial achievements, they’ve also expanded to 100 languages, used by around 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies across 190 countries, with more than 10 million users.
Plus the acquisition and unicorn status, they are not stopping anytime soon.
Oh dang.
Oh dang is right because no matter what your definition of success might be, Canva is clearly doing pretty well.
A startup that is reducing the barrier to entry for a skilled job and disrupting the access to such skills is getting the attention.
This can be seen from the amount of investment that Canva has received throughout.
Their series C funding was from different parts of the world, like China and the US.
While the reason might be that Canva is projected to grow and the returns will be massive, the investments still show that investors are keen on such startups.
I mean, they even got Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson on board. Hence, clearly, a Hollywood approved startup.
Aside from that, the fact that investors are keen on Canva is showing that startups will have the ability to disrupt a skill is what they are looking for.
Canva is not the only one turning an industry on its head.
Biteable, dubbed as the ‘Canva for video’ just received $2.8 million for their series A round.
With 3 million users, Biteable is an online video maker that helps businesses or anyone with their video needs like infographics, ads, explainer videos, presentations and even animations.
They reduce the barriers to high-end video production by allowing you to DIY.
Just like blogging platforms, Weebly and Squarespace, they are reducing the barriers to desired web design.
All these startups ultimately help most of us who don’t have the specific skills.
With that comes various investments and support.
Just like how 3D printers help us manufacture prototypes and create physical objects without the help of others, these startups are making a skill accessible to many.
What’s next
So can we safely say that disruptors get investments? Yes.
That’s a bold statement, but aren’t startups doing that? Disrupting the traditional way of doing things that might be inefficient.
Inspiration is what we can take out of all this, so continue your hustle and create a world where inefficiency is a taboo.
With Canva, I’m excited to see what up their selves and whats on the agenda.
More acquisitions like it’s Boxing Day or more products for us to become a low key designer?
A baby unicorn they called themselves, but being a baby in a thriving environment, it has the massive potential to have a high mortality rate.
We can only wait and see where this might go, but for designers, I’ll say get better, or you’ll be cut.
