The long-time chief financial officer of Perth-founded juggernaut Canva has abruptly left the company amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
It is understood Damien Singh was in talks with the graphics design software firm about stepping down but brought forward his departure last week when told it was investigating him over anonymous allegations made on social media.
Sydney-based Canva on Wednesday declined to discuss the circumstances around Mr Singh’s sudden departure but said it had “a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behaviour”.
Mr Singh joined the company 7½ years ago, riding its rise to prominence as one of Australia’s most valuable startups.
In November, he was named among the winners of CFO Magazine’s CFO of the Year awards at a gala dinner in Sydney.
Co-founded by West Australians Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, Canva is valued at$40 billion and working towards a potential blockbuster stock market listing in the US.
It is believed that as part of Canva’s preparations for the listing, Mr Singh was preparing to step back to make way for a chief financial officer with more experience in public companies when the allegations surfaced on an external online jobs platform.
He resigned before the Canva investigation was finalised, telling staff that the group was “now at a pivotal point going into our next decade where we now need to build on our foundations to operate as a truly public ready company”.
While confirming his departure, Canva declined to comment beyond a brief statement.
“Creating a safe environment for everyone is our number one priority,” a spokesperson said.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behaviour and we’re fully committed to thoroughly investigating and actioning any instances of this.”
Canva’s meteoric rise has catapulted Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht into the ranks of Australia’s uber-wealthy with an estimated combined worth of more than $13b.