Melanie Perkins

Melanie Perkins, the co-founder of Canva, is one of the youngest female CEOs of a software start-up valued at over AUD $1 billion. Perkins has grown the exposure, value, and integration of the graphic design platform tremendously, gaining global success with her husband and business partner, Cliff Obrecht. Forbes named Perkins one of the world's "Top Under 30 of the Decade" in 2020, and she shows no signs of slowing down two years later.

This program immediately drew the attention of millions of users, and companies like Franklin Templeton and Sequoia Capital Global Equities continued to invest in it. Bloggers, students, and marketers use Canva because they can pick from pre-made designs and alter them for a logo, résumé, flyer, or even a design. T-shirt More than 10 million students and instructors utilize Canva's products, as well as corporations including American Airlines Group Inc., Zoom Video Communications Inc., Skyscanner, Intel Corp., Salesforce.com Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc., and Marriott International Inc. Canva has over 7 billion designs and is on course to hit $1 billion in annual revenue by the end of the year. In addition, the firm expects to double the size of its personnel next year, having grown from 1,000 to over 2,000 people in the previous year.

According to statistics from research company CB Insights, Canva was valued at $40 billion in its most recent fundraising round, making it the world's fifth-largest startup. Perkins becomes the world's richest self-made female billionaire under the age of 40, with a fortune of $5.9 billion. The Perkins and Obrecht pair are the 8th and 9th richest people in Australia, according to Bloomberg's list of billionaires.

Net worth: AUD $15.89 Billion