Canva ramps up its AI push with fresh acquisitions
What's the story
Canva has announced the acquisition of Simtheory and Ortto. The financial details of the deals have not been disclosed. The move is part of Canva's continued investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and marketing infrastructure, as it seeks to evolve from a design tool into a comprehensive platform for teams to manage their entire workflow.
Leadership transition
Sharkey brothers to join Canva in leadership roles
The founders of Simtheory and Ortto, Chris and Mike Sharkey, will join Canva in leadership roles across its AI and marketing technology teams. The acquisition is expected to bolster Canva's capabilities in agentic AI, data infrastructure, marketing automation, and customer engagement. This will help the company expand its offerings across the entire workflow from ideation to campaign scaling and measurement.
Platform integration
Platforms to enhance Canva's services
Simtheory's platform enables teams to leverage AI for creating business-savvy assistants that can work across tools and perform real tasks. Meanwhile, Ortto combines a customer data platform with marketing automation, allowing teams to design and run journeys across various channels in one system. The integration of these platforms into Canva's services is expected to further enhance its capabilities.
Expansion strategy
Canva Grow to benefit from Ortto acquisition
Canva co-founder and COO Cliff Obrecht said the acquisitions would accelerate their transition from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design and productivity tools at its core. He added that Ortto would enhance their ability to power the entire marketing and content lifecycle through Canva Grow, from planning and creating to publishing and optimizing across every channel.
Recent acquisitions
Canva's recent acquisitions and growth trajectory
The latest acquisitions come after a string of purchases by Canva. Just two weeks ago, the company acquired digital outdoor advertising start-up Doohly. Six weeks ago, it bought animation firm Cavalry and ad performance improver MangoAI. In January 2025, marketing intelligence firm MagicBrief was acquired by Canva. The company ended 2025 with $4 billion in annualized revenue and over 265 million users (31 million paying).