Canva is raising prices by 300pc amid its AI focus

Users took to X and Threads to complain about a looming price surge for Canva Teams, which the company says reflects the value of its product suite.

Canva Teams customers are being hit with a major price surge, as the company has revealed plans to increase its prices in return for its latest AI products.

The company has shared emails to customers informing them that subscriptions are set to increase by roughly 300pc next year. One user on X shared an email informing them that the subscription would rise from $119.99 a year to the “discounted” price of $300 a year for the first 12 months – with the subscription rising to $500 a year after the first 12 months.

The increased price does not sit well with some customers, with users complaining on both X and Threads about the planned increase.

A Canva spokesperson told The Verge that the price increase is designed to reflect the “value of our expanded product experience” and that its suite of products has grown “significantly over the past couple of years”.

Canva has had rapid growth in recent years, being valued at $40bn in 2021 after raising $200m – this valuation was a 40-fold increase in less than four years. The company has been boosting its services with the power of AI, such as its Magic Media text-to-image tool.

Canva also boosted its services this year by acquiring Affinity. This deal set up Canva as a potential challenger to Adobe’s dominance in the design sector, by giving it access to software similar to Adobe’s Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

But its focus remains on AI as it acquired Australian AI start-up Leonardo.AI at the end of July. By acquiring Leonardo.AI, Canva aims to benefit from research that can help it stay competitive in an increasingly saturated AI market.

Cameron Adams, co-founder and chief product officer at Canva, said earlier this year that the company joined forces with Leonardo.AI to bring “world-first breakthroughs in AI and creativity”.

“This field is constantly evolving, and Leonardo’s technical leadership and community impact can’t be overstated. Bringing our worlds together will accelerate each of our teams’ work, taking us from strength to strength, and we can’t wait to get started.”

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