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Sydney, Australia – Thursday 12 September, 2024 – South by Southwest Sydney® (SXSW Sydney) is thrilled to announce a highly anticipated keynote conversation featuring Melanie Perkins, CEO and Co-founder of Canva, with Mary Meeker, General Partner at BOND. This powerhouse duo will take the SXSW Sydney stage on Monday, October 14, 2024, to uncover insights from Canva’s evolution from an idea to a world-leading design and visual communication business.
Melanie Perkins, the visionary behind Canva's mission to empower the whole world to design, has revolutionised the visual communication landscape. Under her leadership, Canva has grown to serve over 190 million monthly users globally, achieving more than $2.3 billion in annualised revenue.
Mary Meeker, a renowned technology investor and trend spotter, brings her wealth of experience in identifying and supporting industry-defining companies. Known internationally as The “Queen of the Internet”, venture capitalist Meeker has published heavily researched Internet Trends Reports since the mid-90’s that are one of the most highly anticipated annual reports for tech investors. These resorts explain the evolution of the internet, as well as the businesses and personalities that have grown because of it.
“Canva’s focus on visual content and its steady and impressive product improvements have resulted in tremendous growth and long-term adoption by companies, schools and individuals,” said Mary Meeker, of BOND. “I look forward to discussing how Melanie and her team have gotten to where they are and how they are using AI and other technological advancements to drive the company forward.”
SXSW Sydney is also excited to welcome Canva as the event's Official Design Partner and sponsor of the Design track. In collaboration with SXSW Sydney, Canva will power a Speaker Hub with resources to support presenters in showing up strong on stage by using Canva as the primary presentation tool. Speakers will have access to Canva Pro, Canva Presentation templates and training resources to help them showcase their ideas through engaging, visual content.
“When it comes to showcasing the most curious and innovative minds globally, you can’t look further than Mel and Mary,” said Colin Daniels, Managing Director, SXSW Sydney. “Both were included in Forbes’ 2023 The World’s Most Powerful Women list, and reflect the endless possibilities that local businesses and leaders can explore when they pursue their passion with empathy, curiosity and in collaboration with those around them. This will be a must attend Keynote session on the 2024 SXSW Sydney schedule for anyone that is keen to take their ideas to the next level.”
SXSW Sydney Keynote presentations happen daily Monday–Saturday and are accessible with a badge. Badges unlock the full SXSW Sydney experience, giving access to the Conference, Tech & Innovation Expo, and Music, Screen and Games Festivals across seven days at iconic venues in Sydney. Find your perfect badge today at sxswsydney.com/attend. Download the SXSW Sydney app and start building your schedule.
Melanie Perkins and Mary Meeker join previously announced SXSW Sydney 2024 Keynote Speakers New York Times bestselling author of Stolen Focus Johann Hari, prominent human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, and GRAMMY®-nominated and multi-platinum ARIA®-award-winning Australian sensation The Kid LAROI, with more to be revealed.
-ENDS-
About Melanie Perkins
Melanie Perkins is CEO and co-founder of Canva, an online visual communication and collaboration platform with a mission to empower the whole world to design.
Since launching in 2013, Canva has more than 190 million monthly users around the world, and has achieved the milestone of more than $2.3 billion in annualised revenue. From presentations to videos and websites, more than 25 billion designs have been created with the platform (200 every second) across more than 190 different countries and 100 different languages.
About Mary Meeker
Mary Meeker is a general partner at BOND and focuses on investments in high-growth technology companies. She serves on the boards of Block/Square, Genies, and Plaid. She has supported BOND’s investments in Applied Intuition, Canva, Checkr, CLEAR, Hipcamp, Ironclad, Material Bank, Multiverse, On Running, Outschool and Seso.
Mary co-led Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund, which became BOND in 2019. At Kleiner Perkins, she invested in industry-defining companies such as Peloton, Ring, Pinterest, Airbnb, Instacart, DocuSign, Waze, JD.com, Trendyol, Spotify, LegalZoom and Meta/Facebook. Mary continues to co-lead the three Digital Growth Funds totaling $2.8 billion of committed capital.
Before joining Kleiner Perkins in 2010, Meeker served as managing director at Morgan Stanley, led the firm’s global technology research practice and covered then-emerging public technology companies including Google/Alphabet, eBay/PayPal, Amazon, Electronic Arts, Adobe, Microsoft, Dell and Apple.
Meeker co-authored ‘USA Inc.: A Basic Summary of America’s Financial Statements,’ as well as her widely distributed Internet Trends Reports, which were first published in 1995. She received a B.A. and Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from DePauw University and an M.B.A. from Cornell University.
SXSW SYDNEY
14 – 20 OCTOBER 2024
NSW, AUSTRALIA
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About Canva
Launched in 2013, Canva is a free online visual communications and collaboration platform with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design. Featuring a simple drag-and-drop user interface and a vast range of templates ranging from presentations, documents, websites, social media graphics, posters, apparel to videos, plus a huge library of fonts, stock photography, illustrations, video footage, and audio clips, anyone can take an idea and create something beautiful.
About SXSW Sydney®
SXSW Sydney is an annual gathering of visionaries, thought leaders and emerging talents from the Asia-Pacific region. The week-long program is stacked with more than 1,000 events and networking sessions across the key pillars of Tech & Innovation, Games, Music and Screen. The Event seamlessly integrates art and entrepreneurship, cutting-edge advancements and fostering a collaborative ecosystem where ideas are exchanged and partnerships are forged. SXSW Sydney 2024 will take place on 14–20 October, on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.
About SXSW®
South by Southwest (SXSW) dedicates itself to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is best known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of tech, film and television, music, education, and culture. An essential destination for global professionals, the annual March event features sessions, music, and comedy showcases, film and television screenings, exhibitions, professional development, and a variety of networking opportunities. SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together. SXSW 2025 will take place March 7-15 in Austin. Learn more at sxsw.com.
About Destination NSW
Destination NSW is the champion and voice for the visitor economy within the NSW Government. Spearheading a whole-of-government approach to visitor economy growth, Destination NSW influences and shapes the visitor economy through strategic research, policy and thought leadership, stakeholder engagement and consultation, commercial partnerships and investment in visitor experiences, business support, marketing and events. Destination NSW is also the major investor in Business Events Sydney (BESydney) for the purpose of securing more international and domestic conventions, incentive travel reward programs, corporate events and exhibitions.
About TEG
TEG is a global leader in Live Entertainment, Ticketing and Technology and has been at the heart of the live event experience for 50 years through its touring and ticketing operations. Every day TEG connects fans to experiences and customers with brands. TEG are proud partners of some of the world’s largest and most iconic venues as well as leading global brands and events. Through TEG’s integrated operating model, the business brings the best live content, ticketing, and technology to partners with access to the best and most compelling music, sporting, and entertainment events across the globe. TEG is headquartered in Sydney, Australia and operates globally with offices across Asia, Europe and the US.
