Canva unveils small business work kit as it attempts to win more workplace users
Canva has launched a new suite of small business tools and resources, wooing workplace users after a controversial shift to its pricing structure.
Canva has launched a new suite of small business tools and resources, wooing workplace users after a controversial shift to its pricing structure.
The Australian graphic design giant unveiled its small business work kit overnight, featuring pre-built promotional materials, internal memo formats, onboarding presentations, and other visual assets.
The work kit includes lessons and miniature courses, informing Canva users how to conduct competitor analysis, build brand guidelines, or create training videos.
Small businesses can expect “case studies on successful small business campaigns to articles offering design best practices, and guides on how to leverage Canva’s AI tools for efficient branding,” a Canva spokesperson told SmartCompany.
The work kit also highlights Canva’s integrations with third-party apps like Slack, Asana, Monday.com, and Mailchimp, presenting the design platform as a holistic business tool.
Beyond the work kit, Canva is hailing a new generative AI tool called Dream Lab, powered by Leonardo.ai, the Australian AI startup Canva acquired this July in a deal purportedly worth more than $300 million.
Using Leonardo.ai’s foundational Phoenix model, the Dream Lab tool lets users turn text and image prompts into a variety of visual assets.
In a blog post accompanying the launch, Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins said “Dream Lab seamlessly turns imagination into reality”.
Those new tools arrive just weeks after Canva increased the price of its Teams subscription service, which is popular among small businesses.
Changes announced in September saw Australian Canva for Teams pricing jump from $40 per month in a team of five users, to $13.50 per user, equating to $67.50 for a team of the same size.
At the time, Canva told SmartCompany the pricing changes reflected the platform’s “expanded product experience”, including “major enhancements in team collaboration, brand management, the launch of our Visual Suite,” and its earlier Magic Studio AI tool.
But the sharp price hike took small business users by surprise, at a moment when many ventures are looking to reduce their business expenses.
Canva softened its stance in response to those concerns, announcing that long-time Canva for Teams users will face discounted pricing, and that users will be given at least 60 days’ notice before any future price changes.
While Canva’s work kits are free and available to all users, some templates are only available as part of the Pro subscription tier.
More broadly, Canva’s pricing changes, and its increasing focus on business and enterprise users, come as the business inches towards a long-speculated IPO.
Other new announcements from Canva certainly speak to its continual ambition: Perkins said the platform now boasts 200 million users worldwide, as it attempts to win enterprise customers from legacy competitors like Adobe.
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