Canva, the Australian graphic design business valued at $26 billion, is introducing a new suite of digital workplace products, the company announced Wednesday in Sydney. The startup known for easy-to-use design tools will on Wednesday begin rolling out a set of professional tools it calls a “visual worksite,” including collaborative documents, website creation, and data visualization. Canva’s new services represent a direct challenge to Google Docs, Microsoft Office, and Adobe, whose digital tools are mainstays of the modern workplace.
With the launch, Canva hopes to transform itself from a mainly consumer-focused brand often used by individual teams to design social media graphics and presentations to a critical business tool—and, in the process, crack open the productivity management software market valued at $47.3 billion and growing at 13% a year, according to Grand View Research.
“Visual communication is becoming an increasingly critical skill for teams of every size across almost every industry,” cofounder and CEO Melanie Perkins said in a statement. “We’re bringing simple design products to the workplace to empower every employee, at every organization, and on every device.”