Wipro founder Azim Premji’s investment fund, Premji Invest, might invest $50–$70 million in graphic design tool Canva. Recently, Canva had a secondary market sale where existing and new shareholders exchanged shares valued at $1.6 billion. The company was valued at $26 billion. Premji Invest might buy the shares offered by employees in this sale, as per a report by Moneycontrol.
According to the report, a source told MoneyControl, “$50-$70 million at a valuation of $26 billion for a company that will IPO in two years is a good deal. This is also a bet on the booming creator ecosystem, where Canva has an edge.”
As per the report, the investment fund is trying to focus on generative AI. Recently, Canva also invested in the California-based generative AI health care startup Hippocratic AI. The company secured a fund of $53 million. The round was co-led by Premji Invest and General Catalyst. It also saw the participation of other investors, such as Memorial Hermann Health System and SV Angel.
In a statement, Hemant Taneja, CEO and managing director at General Catalyst, said, “Since the founding of Hippocratic AI a year ago, the company trained its foundational model, achieved a key safety threshold, identified novel use cases to solve the healthcare staffing crisis, and established partnerships with 40 health systems, payers, and digital health companies.”
Recently, Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht said that the Australian company is investing heavily in India, and India is one of their fastest-growing markets. He also added that the country has become a huge creator community on Facebook, as per MoneyControl.
In order to leverage the usage of AI, Canva also acquired Affinity Suite, a creative software. The software will bolster the usage of AI tools in Canva. Meanwhile, speaking about the importance of AI, Rishad Premji, Executive Chairman, Wipro, said that the company is going to invest a billion dollars in the next three to four years. While speaking to India Today in an interview, Rishad said, “I'm a big believer in the opportunity of what AI can create and generative AI can create, particularly from an enhancement and augmentation perspective. It creates some disruption along the way, but lots of innovation has created some disruption along the way.”
