Canva has acquired 8 startups in 2 years, and 5 of those landed in the first four months of 2026. Most people have not connected what is happening.
The list
- Affinity (UK)
- Leonardo (Australia)
- MagicBrief
- MangoAI
- Cavalry
- Doohly (reportedly around $30M)
- Simtheory and Ortto (from the Stayz founders, price not disclosed)
The strategy
Canva crossed US$4B in annualised revenue last year. COO Cliff Obrecht said the goal is to evolve Canva from a design platform with AI tools into an AI platform with design tools at its core.
The IPO
Canva said it could IPO this year but pushed it to 2027. The reason: it does not want to explain itself to the market through a transitional period. Translation: the next version of Canva is different enough that they want time to bed it in before going public.
My read
Most people still think Canva is a design app. They are already a year behind.