Source : Business Wire

Canva, a global leader in visual communication, has announced the strategic acquisitions of Simtheory and Ortto. Simtheory is an AI collaboration and agent management platform, while Ortto specializes in customer data and marketing automation. These acquisitions represent a significant step in Canva’s ongoing investment in artificial intelligence and marketing infrastructure, aiming to expand the platform's capabilities from design-centric tools to a comprehensive system for campaign scaling and measurement.

Transforming into an AI-First Productivity System

The integration of Simtheory is set to accelerate Canva's evolution from a visual design platform with AI features into an AI-first platform with productivity tools at its core. Simtheory’s technology simplifies the process of bringing ideas to life by enabling teams to build AI assistants that understand specific business contexts and collaborate across various tasks. This shift addresses the complexity often found in knowledge work, where processes are frequently spread across disconnected tools and tabs.

"Simtheory accelerates our evolution from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design and productivity tools at its core," said Cliff Obrecht, Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer at Canva. "The acquisition lays the groundwork for Canva’s evolution into the system where humans and AI collaborate to go from idea to finished product."

Orchestrating the Full Marketing Lifecycle

With the acquisition of Ortto, Canva significantly strengthens its "Canva Grow" offering. Ortto combines a customer data platform with marketing automation, allowing teams to design and manage customer journeys across email, SMS, push notifications, and in-app messaging. This event-driven architecture makes it easier to connect and activate customer data in real time, solving the fragmentation issues faced by modern marketing teams who often use disconnected data sources.

The addition of Ortto follows Canva’s recent acquisitions of MagicBrief, MangoAI, and Doohly. Together, these tools enable Canva to power the entire content lifecycle—from initial ideation and creative design to publishing, optimization, and measurement across every major channel. Mike Sharkey, Co-Founder and CEO of Ortto and Simtheory, and his co-founder Chris Sharkey will join Canva in leadership roles to oversee the integration of these marketing technology and AI teams.

Scaling for Global Creative Demand

Canva now serves more than 265 million monthly users, and these acquisitions reflect a focus on supporting every stage of the creative process for this massive audience. By bringing agentic AI and robust data infrastructure into its ecosystem, Canva is positioning itself as a central hub where global agencies and brand marketers can execute end-to-end work within a single environment.

The announcement precedes "Canva Create" on April 16, where the company plans to unveil further transformations. By democratizing access to complex marketing automation and agentic AI, Canva is attempting to reimagine the process of creation for both small businesses and large-scale enterprises.

 

About Canva

Launched in 2013, Canva is the world’s leading all-in-one platform for visual communication and collaboration. Built to empower everyone to design, Canva serves the creative and design needs of enterprises, small businesses, consumers, and students in more than 190 countries worldwide. Whether you’re a novice taking your first steps in design, or a creative professional seeking powerful tools, Canva ensures users have what they need to transform an idea into something beautiful. Underpinned by the world's most comprehensive library of designer-made content, Canva is powered by a suite of products and proprietary AI tools that elevate how individuals and teams create, collaborate, and communicate with ease.