Tech billionaire Scott Farquhar has revealed the Canva co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht would’ve been the last people he’d pick to work as a successful couple.
Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht co-founded graphic design platform Canva with Cameron Adams in 2013. They are now the ninth richest couple in Australia, worth $13.18 billion according to the Australian Financial Review’s Rich List.
They were married on Rottnest Island, just off the coast of Perth, in 2021 and had their first 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 in early 2022.
Mr Farquhar, the co-founder of Atlassian who is worth an estimated $18billion, said Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht were ‘very, very different people’.
Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht (pictured together) co-founded graphic design platform Canva with Cameron Adams in 2013
‘If you had to do a dating scene and say, ”let’s put two people together” and had to predict which ones would work out, they’d be at the bottom of the list of people you think would be successful together,’ he said in a new docuseries The Founder, now streaming on Prime Video, Google Play and Apple TV.
‘Yet when you see the way it works and the respect they have for each other and what they’ve accomplished together, it totally works.’
The tech magnate said Ms Perkins was ‘the dreamer’ in the partnership whilst her husband was the more practical one.
‘Mel lives five years, ten years in the future, if you’ve spent time with Cliff, he lives in the moment, right now, and I think he is very practical that compliments Mel’s tendency to dream big,’ Mr Farquhar said.
Ms Perkins described her husband as being the type of person who would never let anything get in the way of him achieving his goals.
‘He has an incredible knack for business and negotiations and people,’ she said.
Canva now boasts more than 125million monthly users and has a workforce of more than 3,000.
But despite their wealth, Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht have pledged to set aside a majority for the Canva Foundation – their company’s charity initiative.
The charity sent funds to more than 13,000 people in Lilongwe Rural, Malawi, through its first pilot program.
Scott Farquhar, the co-founder of Atlassian with an estimated $18billion wealth, said Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht were ‘very, very different people’.
Canva now boasts more than 125 million monthly users and has a workforce of more than 3,000
But despite their mass wealth, Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht have pledged to set aside a majority for the Canva Foundation – their company’s charity initiative
In May this year the company announced another $20million would be sent to the southeastern African country to help battle poverty.
Money was also donated to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and Ukraine after the country was invaded by Russia.
‘We don’t see the money as our own money,’ Mr Obrecht said.
‘We see it as money we’re going to give away and deploy towards making the world a better place.
‘If I was just working towards putting more dollars in my bank account, I wouldn’t come to work at all.’
The Founder series focuses on entrepreneurs of the Australian tech landscape.
Another episode focuses on the man behind Finder, self-proclaimed ‘crypto king’ Fred Schebesta.
The website Finder.com.au allows users to compare services such as insurance, home loans, electricity and gas providers as well as mobile phone plans.
Mr Schebesta, who has an estimated net worth of $250million, announced he’d be stepping down as co-CEO of the company in December last year.
He is now the Executive Chair, focusing on more venture-related projects, as he resides in his $16.8million mansion overlooking the ocean in South Coogee, in Sydney’s east.
Fred Schebesta, the founder of Finder, is also featured in the docuseries
