Canva raises at $40B, Mailchimp acquired for $12B, Grammarly's SDK launch, and more...

👋 Hey, Ruchin here! Welcome to this week’s edition of the ✨Top of the Lyne✨ newsletter. Each week we publish the hottest news from the beautiful world of product-led growth! (PLG)

The outcome we're shooting for is simple... to get enough folks excited about the product-led world that we so dearly love ❤️

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Into the Twitterverse 🐦🌌

• With great power comes great responsibility! 🦸🏻‍♀️

  As Canva announced its $40B valuation round, what truly grabbed headlines (and warmed our ❤️s) was the company’s reiterated focus on doing the most good they can! Inspiring vision and mission from a company that couldn’t deserve it more 🇦🇺

Melanie Perkins @MelanieCanva

The opportunity that we have is only superseded by the responsibility we feel. We hope we can live up to it over the years to come. So lucky to turn a wild idea into reality with the best team, community and investors. Exciting progress on our 2-step plan:

bit.lyA note to the Canva CommunityToday is a very special day for Canva — we have some exciting news that we’d love to share with all of you. News that has been many years in the making, that wouldn’t exist without the hard work, and…

• How going freemium saved Mailchimp from certain 💀

  In an era when PLG was just three random alphabets strung together, Mailchimp made a big bet to give away email software for FREE. Profit grew by 650% that year‼️ The biz started adding 30k users every month. And by Sept 2010, they had grown to 450k users and just over $2MM ARR.

There isn’t a day when the power of product-led growth doesn’t surprise and fascinate us 😌

Jesse Pujji @jspujji

A project manager and a failed DJ use their severance packages to bootstrap a web design agency. It fails. The crazy part? Their side hustle turns into a ubiquitous $10 Billion SaaS Startup 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

• Calendly’s insane sales efficiency! 🤯

  This tweet beautifully summarized their org chart and how lean the sales function is. Calendly took just 10 salespeople to reach $100M ARR! 😱

  Paul Yacoubian @PaulYacoubian

  Org chart for Calendly - one of my favorite product-led growth driven saas tools

  

  3 salespeople to reach $30M ARR, 7 to reach $70M, and 10 to reach $100M 🚀 Wondering how they did it?👇🏻👇🏻

  How Calendly will scale to $1B ARR 🚀

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Growth Stories 🚀

Every time a new tech role is born so is a Salesforce-like behemoth! 🚀

Inbound marketers → Hubspot

Product designers → Figma

API developers → Postman

And, Productboard is that platform for Product Management! Here’s how they’ll get there 👇🏻

Sophie Lalonde @SophieALalonde

How Productboard will become the Salesforce of product management 🚀 Some great insights, and some good laughs... topofthelyne.substack.com/p/productboard…

topofthelyne.substack.comHow Productboard will become the Salesforce of product management 🚀The secret to Productboard’s success, a world-class go-to-market (GTM) strategy

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Fundraising, Venture Capital and Exits 🤑

1. Canva raises $200 million at a $40 billion valuation making it one of the most valuable private companies on the planet! 🌏

   TechCrunch @TechCrunch

   ICYMI: @canva raises $200 million at a $40 billion valuation. This funding round solidifies Canva as one of the most valuable private software companies out there.

   

   techcrunch.comCanva raises $200 million at a $40 billion valuation – TechCrunchCanva is now valued at $40 billion following a fresh capital injection of $200 million (USD) in a round led by T. Rowe Price. New and existing investors participated in the round, including Franklin Templeton, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Dragoneer I…

2. Intuit is acquiring email marketing company Mailchimp for $12 billion in cash and stock 💰

   Mailchimp @Mailchimp

   📢 We have some big news to share: @Intuit is acquiring Mailchimp! Like us, understanding small businesses is in Intuit’s DNA. Together, we’ll take our marketing platform to the next level to help solve our customers’ biggest problems. intuit.com/blog/news-soci…

   

   intuit.comIntuit to Acquire Mailchimp - Intuit®: Official BlogIntuit is acquiring Mailchimp, a world-class, global customer engagement and marketing platform for growing small and mid-market businesses.

3. Xendit secures $150 million Series C to build out digital payment infrastructure across Southeast Asia. 🇮🇩

Launches, events, and releases 🆕

1. Grammarly SDK beta lets developers embed automated text editing in any web app 🛠️ 💻

2. Calendso is now Cal.com! What started as an open-source side project has now grown to serve hundreds of companies and thousands of customers every day. 📆

   Front introduces customer-centric features with deeper CRM integration.

   Front @FrontHQ

   We’re LIVE! 🚨 CEO @collinmathilde is sharing her vision for the future of #customercommunication 💬 It's not too late to join in: front.com/next-frontier-…

   

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   Nerding out on PLG 🤓📚

   PLG is not a one-size-fits-all approach — some tactics will be more effective than others depending on your product and market, and your strategy will need to shift as you grow.

   Find out how Accel defines ways to build strong and sustainable PLG foundations👇

   Accel @Accel

   Product-led growth is not a one-size-fits-all approach, but there are similar strategies you’ll find among successful startups. We're sharing five here 👀⬇️ #productled #growth accel.com/noteworthy/wha…

   

   accel.comAccel - What is Product Led Growth?

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