Canva

Canva takes hit as investor slashes value of shares by 33pc ... Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht with Cameron Adams (left), Canva's third co-founder. Franklin's ...

Michael Baileywrites on entrepreneurship and the arts. In the US public markets, stellar tech names have fallen, despite the resilience of their business models. “Canva is an extraordinary company, and it has the potential to continue growing for many years to come and evolve into one of the most important technology companies globally,” he said. The sell-off of technology on public markets had in one way been a benefit to Canva, he added, as the volatility had sent a record 260,000 job applications its way in the past year. However, Franklin’s marking of its Canva shares to lower public market multiples means that any Canva raising in the near future could be a “down round” – one struck at a lower valuation than the most recent – which is a proven destroyer of confidence among investors, staff and even customers. In a sign that Canva is not immune from the tech sell-off in public markets, which has pushed the Nasdaq down 17 per cent in the past 6 months, Franklin Templeton’s Growth Opportunities Fund has slashed the value of the 11,829 shares it picked up in the raise from $US20.2 million to $US13.4 million ($28.2 million to $18.7 million).