At the start of the year, the software world was already talking about a “SaaSpocalypse” as generative AI from platforms like Gemini, Claude and ChatGPT made it possible to build products in days instead of months of coding. Design platforms that once relied on large engineering teams suddenly faced a world where text prompts could spin up layouts, prototypes and imagery that previously needed specialist skills and expensive subscriptions.
Into this shift, Google has relaunched its Gemini‑driven design tool, called Stitch, positioning it as a free or low‑cost way for users to generate digital designs inside its wider ecosystem. The move coincides with a sharp reset in valuations. US‑listed Figma, a key competitor to Canva, has seen its market value slide around 25% in just weeks since Stitch’s update, and its share price is now down about 80% from its debut in 2023. Canva’s backers had recently lifted the Australian company’s worth to about $US42bn using Figma’s early performance as a benchmark, so this sudden cool‑down in a close peer looks like a warning sign even as the company continues to expand its huge template library and user base.
In the bigger picture, Google’s free AI design offering seems to be accelerating a shake‑up where creative software becomes more automated, cheaper and tightly integrated with large tech platforms. That could help millions of small businesses and casual creators, but it also looks like it may compress margins, unsettle private valuations and force players like Canva to prove they can keep innovating in an AI‑first world rather than simply ride past growth assumptions.
