Canva Acquires AI Platform Leonardo

Canva has acquired creative AI company Leonardo to expand and improve its visual AI technology.

Since Canva was founded in 2013, the company has 190 million users worldwide. The acquisition of Leonardo.Ai, a generative AI company, aligns with Canva’s mission to build AI design technology. Leonardo.Ai has a team of 120 researchers, engineers, and designers, and a strong foundation in AI models.

Leonardo’s technology will be integrated into Canva’s existing Magic Studio products, including Magic Media, the AI ​​graphics and video creator. Leonardo’s proven track record in AI-generated images, graphics, and videos will contribute to Canva’s mission to lead the design and visual AI ecosystem.

“Leonardo will continue to operate independently of Canva with a focus on rapid innovation and R&D, now supported by Canva’s resources,” Adams said. Techcrunch“We will continue to offer all of Leonardo’s existing tools and solutions.”

“This acquisition aims to help Leonardo grow its platform and deepen its user growth through our investment, including by expanding their API business and investing in core model R&D.”

Artificial Intelligence Applications in Visual Communication

“We’ll be looking to integrate Leonardo’s technology into Magic Studio, which we’re very excited about,” Adams says. “This could mean making existing Magic Studio tools even more powerful, or introducing new generative AI capabilities powered by Leonardo’s models directly into Canva.”

“It’s early days and we’ll find out what this looks like right away, but we’re excited to expand what our users can do with AI on Canva.”

Canva’s Visual Economy Report shows that demand for effective visual communication has increased significantly. AI is playing an increasingly important role in increasing productivity and creativity in the workplace. Marketing teams can use generative AI to scale global campaigns by generating instant creatives tailored to specific audiences. Designers can create first drafts of visuals, allowing them to immediately focus on refining and perfecting.

Earlier this month, Canva launched a six-month free trial of its Affinity suite. It hopes to wake up Adobe by offering an alternative that doesn’t require you to pay monthly. Affinity has been owned by Canva since the end of March.