#Asia Design tool Canva launches in Indonesia, appoints country manager

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Canva-founders

Canva co-founders Cliff Obrecht, Melanie Perkins, and Cameron Adams (L-R). Photo credit: Canva.

Canva, a cloud-based software that helps you create graphic designs, has officially launched in Indonesia. Canva’s chief evangelist is Guy Kawasaki, who held the same role for Apple in the late nineties.

The startup appointed Sony Radhityo as country head, leading a small team of five to six people. He joins Canva after holding similar roles at Indonesia-based startups Fabelio and Qraved.

At the platform’s core are its simple graphic design tools that let you create images for social media, blogs, presentations, or infographic – for free.

Sony Radhityo. Photo credit: Sony Radhityo.

Since it launched an Indonesian language option in November 2016, it says its registered users grew to 100,000. Those users have created 3.5 million designs so far using the software.

If they see good traction, Radhityo tells Tech in Asia, Canva may set up a permanent office in the archipelago. For now, the team works remotely from different Indonesian cities.

Made for Indonesia

In Indonesia, people love sharing messages and images on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and messengers like WhatsApp, Line, and BBM enjoys huge popularity.

With a population of close to 260 million people, the majority of which are under the age of 35, the country is one of Canva’s fastest growing markets. That’s why the company plans to allocate more resources to it.

More than a free design tool

Canva was launched in 2012 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams. Two years into the development, marketing expert and investor Guy Kawasaki joined the company. Kawaski had started his career in marketing at Apple in the 80’s.

See: I’m Guy Kawasaki, chief evangelist at Canva. AMA!

Besides the free tools, Canva has a paid-for version intended for use at the workplace. It also launched a marketplace that lets professional designers upload images and sell them, which puts Canva in competition with stock image resources like Shutterstock or 123rf.

Its core feature competes with solutions offered by Canada-based startups Snappa and GetStencil.

The startup last year raised US$15 million at a US$345 million valuation.

Investors include Felicis Ventures, Blackbird Ventures, and Matrix Partners. Hollywood actors Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson have also contributed.

Canva’s Indonesia launch is part of a global rollout. The startup already has offices in Sydney, San Francisco, and Manila and is available in 25 languages.

This post Design tool Canva launches in Indonesia, appoints country manager appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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