Canva has quietly made a big change to its corporate structure, adding fuel to the speculation that the Australian tech company is gearing up to go public in the US this year. 

Last year, another big chunk of Australia’s largest privately owned technology company was shifted over to a holding company wholly owned by its US parent company. 

This restructure was carried out in late September and disclosed in a corporate document filed in the days leading up to Christmas.

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Moving such a large amount of equity to another corporate structure has a few likely explanations — including preparing for its widely reported plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2026. 

Canva did not respond to a request for comment.

Late last year, Canva’s main Australian business, Canva Pty Ltd, filed notice of a change to company details with ASIC. Here’s the document:

This document was notice that 15,000,000,000 shares at a price of $0.01 per share had been issued to Canva Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, a newly incorporated Australian company that was converted from its old holding company last year as part of its reported IPO preparations. 

The holding company, which owns 100% of the Australian company, is completely owned by the US company Canva Inc as per corporate documents below. 

The decision to issue another 15 billion shares has a number of possible explanations including preparation to buy another company, issuing staff equity or to go public.

There’s a lot of Australian investors — including many of the countries biggest funds — and staff who are hoping it’s the latter, given the potential to cash out on a company already privately valued at $65 billion. 

Changing your corporate structure, creating a new holding company and changing share structure are all normal parts of pre-IPO preparation. It’s particularly important, given that it’s an Australian company looking to list in the US. 

Last year, Canva competitor Figma listed on the New York Stock Exchange at an initial price of $33. It tripled in value on debut, but is currently trading around $28.

The End

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