# Corel Corporation

> Corel Corporation is a 40-year-old Ottawa-based software company behind a portfolio of iconic creativity and productivity brands - CorelDRAW, Painter, PaintShop Pro, VideoStudio, WordPerfect, WinZip and MindManager - used by more than 100 million people across 75+ countries. After a stint as KKR-owned 'Alludo,' Corel relaunched in May 2026 as an independent company backed by Vector Capital, with a strategy built on deepening customer experience, embedding AI across its products, and acquiring complementary brands.

- **Founded:** 1985
- **Headquarters:** Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- **Founders:** Michael Cowpland (Founder (as Cowpland Research Laboratory))
- **Team size:** ~1,100 employees (operations across six continents)
- **Products:** CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, Corel Painter, PaintShop Pro, VideoStudio, WordPerfect Office
- **Notable:** Built and sustained CorelDRAW into one of the most recognized vector graphics suites for 35+ years, Grew a portfolio of iconic brands (CorelDRAW, WinZip, WordPerfect, Painter, PaintShop Pro, VideoStudio, MindManager) serving 100M+ users in 75+ countries, Acquired WordPerfect and Quattro Pro from Novell in 1996 for ~$124M, entering the office productivity market

## Products & services

- **CorelDRAW Graphics Suite** — Flagship vector illustration, page layout and graphic design suite; the 2026 release adds AI-powered PowerTRACE, art-style effects, image upsampling and JPEG artifact removal, plus the beginner-friendly CorelDRAW Go.
- **Corel Painter** — Professional natural-media digital painting software with realistic brushes for illustrators and concept artists.
- **PaintShop Pro** — Affordable photo-editing and design software positioned as an alternative to subscription photo tools.
- **VideoStudio** — Consumer and prosumer video-editing software for creating and sharing movies.
- **WordPerfect Office** — Long-running office productivity suite (word processor, Quattro Pro spreadsheet, presentations) acquired from Novell in 1996.
- **WinZip** — One of the world's best-known file compression and sharing utilities, acquired in 2006.
- **MindManager** — Mind-mapping and visual work-management software for planning and information organization, acquired in 2016.
- **Pinnacle Studio & Roxio** — Video editing (Pinnacle) and disc burning / media (Roxio) product lines rounding out the digital media portfolio.

## Achievements

- Built and sustained CorelDRAW into one of the most recognized vector graphics suites for 35+ years
- Grew a portfolio of iconic brands (CorelDRAW, WinZip, WordPerfect, Painter, PaintShop Pro, VideoStudio, MindManager) serving 100M+ users in 75+ countries
- Acquired WordPerfect and Quattro Pro from Novell in 1996 for ~$124M, entering the office productivity market
- Sold to KKR for approximately $1 billion in 2019
- Recognized as a top graphic design software choice for creatives in 2025 industry roundups
- Relaunched as an independent, AI-focused company backed by Vector Capital in 2026

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Corel relaunched as an independent company backed by Vector Capital, spanning CorelDRAW, WinZip, MindManager, PaintShop Pro, VideoStudio, Pinnacle, Roxio and WordPerfect, with Prasannaa Ganesan as CEO.
- **2026-05** — Announced a new executive leadership team: Prasannaa Ganesan (CEO), Rob Charlebois (Chief Revenue Officer), Dana Dingman (VP Legal) and Jason Royer (SVP Finance).
- **2026-03** — Introduced AI-powered creativity in CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2026, including PowerTRACE bitmap-to-vector tracing, art-style effects, image upsampling, JPEG artifact removal and the beginner-friendly CorelDRAW Go.
- **2025-06** — Parent company abandoned U.S. trademark applications for the 'Alludo' name following a settled trademark dispute, paving the way back to the Corel brand.

## Links

- Website: https://corel.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/corel-corporation
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/corelsoftware
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/corel
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corelsoftware/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/Corel

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/corel-corporation
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-15