--- title: Canva’s backers cut $7.1bn from its valuation, and its... description: Canva's longtime backers Blackbird and Airtree marked down their stake in the design company from $42bn to $34.9bn, a $7.1bn cut, while Canva's own independent... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/canva-s-backers-cut-7-1bn-from-its-valuation-and-its-own-valuer-cut-more-ic9nogxge twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Canva’s backers cut $7.1bn from its valuation, and its own valuer cut more | daily.dev og:description: Canva's longtime backers Blackbird and Airtree marked down their stake in the design company from $42bn to $34.9bn, a $7.1bn cut, while Canva's own independent... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/canva-s-backers-cut-7-1bn-from-its-valuation-and-its-own-valuer-cut-more-ic9nogxge og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/IC9nOGxGE.png og:image:alt: Canva’s backers cut $7.1bn from its valuation, and its own valuer cut more og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Canva’s backers cut $7.1bn from its valuation, and its own valuer cut more **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Canva's longtime backers Blackbird and Airtree marked down their stake in the design company from $42bn to $34.9bn, a $7.1bn cut, while Canva's own independent internal valuation fell even further, from $38.9bn to $31bn. The write-down followed Canva cutting its expected growth rate by a third to 20%, blamed on the soaring cost of running frontier AI models. CEO Melanie Perkins says demand for AI features exceeded expectations but the company chose to slow rollout to rebuild architecture and cut unit costs, claiming cost per task has fallen nearly 90% since Canva AI 2.0 launched in April, even as usage tripled. Analysts frame this as a broader shift: AI inference breaks the near-zero marginal cost economics that used to define SaaS, with Figma hitting a similar wall days earlier (its stock fell 16% on margin concerns) and other big AI buyers like Amazon facing runaway inference bills. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why did Canva's valuation get cut by billions of dollars? Canva's backers Blackbird and Airtree cut their valuation mark from $42bn to $34.9bn, a $7.1bn drop, after Canva slashed its expected revenue growth rate by a third to 20% due to the high cost of running AI features on frontier models. Canva's own internal valuation fell even further, from $38.9bn to $31bn, a $7.9bn cut. _Track how AI infrastructure costs are reshaping SaaS valuations and margins on daily.dev._ ### How much did Canva reduce its cost per AI task since launching Canva AI 2.0? Cost per task fell by nearly 90% since Canva AI 2.0 launched in April, according to CEO Melanie Perkins, though usage tripled over the same period, meaning the total compute spend did not shrink proportionally to the per-task savings. Canva deliberately slowed its AI rollout to rebuild architecture and reduce unit costs before scaling further. _Engineers optimizing AI inference costs can follow real-world cost-cutting benchmarks like this on daily.dev._ ### Why are AI features breaking the traditional zero marginal cost model of SaaS? Unlike traditional software, AI-assisted features carry a real compute bill for every use, since inference is like the fuel and mechanic cost of running a product rather than a one-time training expense. Pitchbook analyst Derek Hernandez notes this ends software's traditional advantage of near-zero marginal cost, forcing companies like Canva and Figma to absorb rising per-user AI costs that squeeze margins. _daily.dev helps developers and founders keep up with how AI costs are reshaping software business models._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Canva acquires startups working on animation and marketing](https://daily.dev/posts/canva-acquires-startups-working-on-animation-and-marketing-g726y7ypt) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Figma grew 48% and raised its outlook. The stock fell 16% because of AI costs](https://daily.dev/posts/figma-grew-48-and-raised-its-outlook-the-stock-fell-16-because-of-ai-costs-quy9nowhc) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Canva gets to $4B in revenue as LLM referral traffic rises](https://daily.dev/posts/canva-gets-to-4b-in-revenue-as-llm-referral-traffic-rises-8ilguvgas) · TechCrunch · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#figma](https://daily.dev/tags/figma) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/canva-s-backers-cut-7-1bn-from-its-valuation-and-its-own-valuer-cut-more-ic9nogxge) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Canva’s backers cut $7.1bn from its valuation, and its own valuer cut more","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/canva-s-backers-cut-7-1bn-from-its-valuation-and-its-own-valuer-cut-more-ic9nogxge","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/canva-s-backers-cut-7-1bn-from-its-valuation-and-its-own-valuer-cut-more-ic9nogxge"},"datePublished":"2026-08-14T15:29:42.546Z","dateModified":"2026-08-14T15:30:09.732Z","description":"Canva's longtime backers Blackbird and Airtree marked down their stake in the design company from $42bn to $34.9bn, a $7.1bn cut, while Canva's own independent...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/99b9797f4cec299bf62bac320f51499d?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/99b9797f4cec299bf62bac320f51499d?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/canva-s-backers-cut-7-1bn-from-its-valuation-and-its-own-valuer-cut-more-ic9nogxge","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"figma","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Canva’s backers cut $7.1bn from its valuation, and its own valuer cut more"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/canva-s-backers-cut-7-1bn-from-its-valuation-and-its-own-valuer-cut-more-ic9nogxge#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Canva's valuation get cut by billions of dollars?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Canva's backers Blackbird and Airtree cut their valuation mark from $42bn to $34.9bn, a $7.1bn drop, after Canva slashed its expected revenue growth rate by a third to 20% due to the high cost of running AI features on frontier models. 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