Five businesses named in a Bankwest-sponsored PerthNow feature have Perth beginnings: Canva, Healthengine, Cash Converters, Dôme and Betts. Their origins are not all the same kind of start: the list spans an early venture that preceded Canva, a living-room startup, a first retail store, a coffee-roasting business and a bootmaker’s shop. The selection is not a measured ranking of which companies are thriving today.
What does “started in Perth” mean for these businesses?
The PerthNow feature identifies five businesses, but the connection to Perth differs by company. Canva’s founders began with an earlier business before Canva launched; Cash Converters opened its first store in Western Australia; Dôme began with coffee roasting before opening a café; and Betts began as a bootmaker’s shop. Healthengine’s early story is described by PerthNow as a living-room project. Those distinctions matter: an early base, a first store and a later product launch are not interchangeable founding milestones.
The stories also span more than a century, from Betts’s 1892 beginning to Canva’s 2013 launch. The table gives the milestones and expansion evidence available from the companies or the original feature, with the source and date qualifications attached.
| Business | Perth beginning | Initial offering | Expansion evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Betts | Fanny Breckler founded a bootmaker’s shop in Perth in 1892, according to Betts. | Bootmaking and footwear. | Betts describes itself as family-owned and says it reset its positioning in 2025 toward a fashion-led brand for modern women. This is the company’s description of its current direction. |
| Cash Converters | Founder Brian Cumins opened the first store in Victoria Park, Western Australia, in 1984, according to the company. | A WA family pawnbroking business, later expanded into second-hand retail and personal finance. | Cash Converters Australia reported 659 stores in 15 countries as at 30 June 2025. This is a company-reported, dated figure. |
| Dôme | Specialty coffee roasting began in Perth in the mid-1980s, according to Dôme. | Coffee roasting, followed by the first café in Cottesloe in 1991. | Dôme’s official history reports more than 130 cafés in six countries, but gives no clear as-of date for that count. |
| Healthengine | PerthNow’s 2018-era feature describes a living-room project started in 2006. | Online booking for appointments with GPs, dentists and other health providers, as described by PerthNow. | PerthNow reported 1.5 million monthly users at the time of its article. That historical figure is not a current user count. |
| Canva | The founders’ earlier Perth venture was Fusion Yearbooks; Melanie Perkins later said their first company was in Perth. Canva itself launched in 2013. | Fusion Yearbooks helped schools create yearbooks; Canva launched as an online design and publishing tool. | Canva’s undated About page reports 220M+ monthly active users, 30B+ designs created, presence in 190 countries and 100+ languages. These are Canva’s own figures, not independently audited measurements. |
Canva began with a Perth venture before the design platform
Canva’s Perth connection starts with Fusion Yearbooks, an earlier project that helped schools create yearbooks. That was not the same product as Canva: Canva launched in 2013 as an online design and publishing tool. Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins later wrote, “We initially had our first company in Perth – however it was impossible at that point in time to attract the right investors and technical talent we needed.” The distinction helps explain why accounts of Canva’s origins may refer both to a Perth-based predecessor and to the later launch of Canva itself.
Canva’s current About page reports 220M+ monthly active users, 30B+ designs created, a presence in 190 countries and support for 100+ languages. Those figures describe Canva’s own reported reach and activity; they should not be read as independently audited measurements.
#1 Best Overall
Healthengine’s early story is a 2006 account, not a current usage report
PerthNow’s sponsored feature describes Healthengine as a Perth startup that began in 2006 as a living-room project intended to make health appointments easier to book. It says the service enabled online bookings with GPs, dentists and other health providers. The article reported 1.5 million people accessing the website or app each month at the time. That is a historical claim from the feature, not a current measure of Healthengine’s users.
Cash Converters opened its first shop in Victoria Park
Cash Converters says founder Brian Cumins opened the company’s first store in Victoria Park, Western Australia, in 1984. The company describes its beginning as a WA family pawnbroking business, with later expansion into second-hand retail and personal finance. Its Australian business reported 659 stores across 15 countries as at 30 June 2025; the figure is dated and company-reported.
Dôme moved from coffee roasting to cafés
Dôme’s account begins with specialty coffee roasting in Perth in the mid-1980s. Its first café opened in Cottesloe in 1991, a separate milestone from the start of roasting. The company’s official history says it has more than 130 cafés operating in six countries, but does not give a clear date for that count, so it should not be treated as a precisely current total.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Rank #2
- Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding, paperback
Betts began as a Perth bootmaker in 1892
Betts says Fanny Breckler founded the business in Perth in 1892 as a small bootmaker’s shop. Its current About page describes the company as family-owned and frames a 2025 reset as a move toward a fashion-led brand for modern women. That is Betts’s own description of its present positioning, not an independent assessment of its market performance.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Why the five stories are not a ranking
The PerthNow list was published as a Bankwest-sponsored feature. Its five selections make a useful set of Perth-origin stories, but the different milestones and dated metrics do not provide a common basis for ranking current business success. Company figures such as store or café counts and Canva’s reported user and design totals are attributed company claims; Healthengine’s monthly-user number belongs to the historical PerthNow account.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
