Image: Canva
Canva’s now worth $40 billion. The next step? Getting users to pay.

Welcome to Protocol | Enterprise, your comprehensive roundup of everything you need to know about cloud and enterprise software. This Monday: Canva's effort to democratize design, GitLab's IPO filing, and how GitHub protects the universe of code.
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Canva's new $200 million funding round propelled its valuation up to $40 billion, an incredible leap that, at least on paper, makes the design software provider more valuable than other private upstarts like Databricks and SenseTime.
But Canva stands out in another way: The bulk of its customers aren't paying for the product — and probably never will. But now, the company is making a big push into the enterprise and looking for subscribers willing to fork over actual cash.
Canva gained prominence by offering design templates that small businesses and individuals could use to create professional content like business cards, flyers or presentations. But to capture more enterprise business, it has expanded the product suite.
So-called "freemium" strategies in the world of software aren't new. And many vendors have a large user base that can use the product regularly without having to pay.
Canva swears it's not trying to be in competition with any of those companies, a bit of a head-scratcher given CEO Melanie Perkins' goal of eliminating the PDF — one of Adobe's signature creations.
Canva believes it has a massive market opportunity ahead. Whether it is worth "hundreds of billions of dollars," as Adams estimated, remains to be seen. (For reference, the artificial intelligence market, which is much larger, is only expected to reach $360 billion by 2028.)
Adams thinks Canva's collaboration features help it stand out, as well as its ability to help enterprises control their "brand identity" while democratizing access to design.
While it appears Canva has had early success bolstering its subscription business, convincing free users to begin paying for services is a difficult task — just ask Docker.
Now, Canva just has to continue to prove that its software is worth the investment. Going increasingly head-to-head with Adobe, one of the world's most successful tech vendors, will be tough.
— Joe Williams
We are on the verge of seeing a massive increase in location-relevant data, well beyond anything today, and driven by an expanding network of sensor-equipped vehicles, devices and machines. But we are moving into a more dynamic world where all objects and things need to understand where they are and how to precisely interact with their surroundings. It is the beginning of a new era of Spatial Intelligence.
Protecting the mines: More than 65 million software developers use GitHub. Protocol's Tom Krazit talked to COO Erica Brescia about how she keeps the universe running smoothly.
Businesses, cities and government agencies will continue to generate vast amounts of location data. Moving through the next decade, location data can help underpin major transformational shifts in how our economies and societies are examined. It can be harnessed to help solve some of our world's most pressing inequity challenges and transform the way we live, move and interact within our communities.
Thanks for reading — see you Thursday!
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