Canva restructures 1,271 roles as growth slows and AI costs rise

Canva is restructuring 1,271 roles, equal to 22% of its workforce, as growth slows and the cost of operating AI products rises. TechCrunch reports that the total covers layoffs as well as role changes and relocations, so it should not be read as 1,271 positions being eliminated outright.

Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins told employees that Canva had entered its hardest year and that growth had slowed for the first time in a decade. The company is merging its product, growth and platform groups, reducing specialist roles and moving toward hybrid office work.

AI is central to both sides of the pressure. Canva has been developing its own models to reduce dependence on third-party providers, but still lowered its revenue-growth forecast from 30% to 20% as AI costs increased. At the same time, image-generation and presentation tools in ChatGPT, Gemini and AI-native startups are making it easier for users to create designs without a dedicated platform.

The restructuring is a useful signal for the broader software market. Adding AI can raise infrastructure spending before it produces matching revenue, while general-purpose assistants can absorb features that once supported standalone subscriptions. Canva remains a large design platform, but its response shows that established SaaS companies may need to simplify teams and rethink product economics as generative tools become cheaper and more capable.