Canva

Canva reached $42 billion valuation in August 2025 by turning graphic design from specialist craft into commodity capability. The platform hit $3.3 billion annual recurring revenue (doubling from 2023) with 240 million monthly active users and 21 million paying subscribers. Over 95% of Fortune 500 companies including HP and Snowflake use Canva. This is niche construction - creating an environment where non-designers can produce professional-quality graphics.

The platform exhibits network effects through templates and collaboration. Each new template created becomes available to other users; each team that joins makes real-time collaboration more useful. Canva holds 12.47% of the graphics market despite Adobe controlling 70%, because it optimizes for different selection pressure. Adobe targets professionals who need pixel-perfect control; Canva targets everyone else who needs good-enough design quickly. The company added 60 million users in a year, growing faster than Figma (+31% YoY) or Miro (+26% YoY).

Behavioral plasticity makes the model work. Users start with simple social media posts, then expand to presentations, video editing, and website design. The platform's 21 million paid users represent just 8.75% of the user base, but each paying customer likely converts colleagues through team features. This is positive feedback - the more teams use Canva, the more indispensable it becomes as shared design infrastructure. The company's 5,000 employees support 240 million users, a ratio only possible through self-service platforms.

Canva's August 2025 employee stock sale at $42 billion valuation (up from $32 billion in 2024) happened while Adobe trades at $21.5 billion revenue with only 11% growth. The lesson: democratization can outcompete incumbents optimized for expertise. When you make a specialized capability accessible to masses, network effects and data compounding create moats that craftsmanship alone cannot defend against.