We got this: Canva shuns investment banks and handles secondary itself
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley helped it sell more than $1.5 billion in stock last year. But time around, Canva is handling its latest secondary on its own.
Australian design software darling Canva is planning to manage the sale of up to USD500 million in shares held by employees entirely in-house — that is, without the assistance of advisers. And if one the venture capital firms that has backed the business from the start is anything go by, it might not have much trouble doing so.
Last year, Canva engaged Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to sell USD1.58 billion in shares via a secondary. Now, a bit more than a year on it is selling shares again. But two sources familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss the confidential process said it would not engage any external advisers this time.
The move to handle the deal internally follows the company hiring Kelly Steckelberg as chief financial officer in November last year. Steckelberg had previously taken Zoom public in 2019.
It is common for a startup to handle the sale of equity, either primary or secondary, on its own. Arguably Canva's decision to appoint advisers last time around was more unusual, though the size of last year's secondary was much bigger than this year's.
