In a strategic move to strengthen its artificial intelligence capabilities and professional creative offerings, Canva has announced the acquisition of MangoAI and Cavalry. The dual acquisitions mark Canva’s fourth and fifth deals in the past two years, reinforcing its ambition to build a unified, AI-powered creative ecosystem for individuals, teams, and enterprises.

The move follows Canva’s earlier acquisitions of Affinity (2024), Leonardo.ai (2024), and MagicBrief (2025), signaling sustained investment in expanding both creative depth and AI-driven functionality.

Canva’s Growing Global Footprint

Canva continues to scale rapidly across consumer and enterprise markets. The company reports:

Over 265 million users globally

Adoption by teams at 95% of the Fortune 500

AI tools used more than 24 billion times

More than 50 million new users added in 2025 alone

Over $4 billion in annualised revenue, up 36% year-over-year

More than 31 million paid seats

Positive free cash flow for nine consecutive years

These metrics underscore Canva’s transition from a user-friendly design tool into a comprehensive creative and marketing platform with enterprise-grade capabilities.

Cavalry: Expanding Into Professional 2D Animation

Strengthening Motion Design Capabilities

Cavalry, a UK-based 2D animation platform built by animators for animators, focuses on improving professional animation workflows. Its tools are widely used by creative teams seeking greater control and efficiency in motion graphics production.

By acquiring Cavalry, Canva expands its professional design suite, complementing Affinity’s photo editing, vector design, and layout capabilities. This positions Canva as a stronger alternative to traditional, often expensive creative software ecosystems.

Enterprise Adoption and European Expansion

Cavalry is already used by major global companies, including:

Amazon

MangoAI: Advancing AI-Driven Creative Optimisation

AI for Smarter Video Advertising

MangoAI, an early-stage US startup, specialises in AI-powered creative optimisation for video advertising. Its proprietary algorithms and closed-loop reinforcement learning system use ad platform reward signals to continuously refine video ads.

In practical terms, this means:

Improved ad performance

Reduced testing time

Lower campaign costs

Real-time optimisation based on performance data

The acquisition enhances Canva’s marketing intelligence suite, particularly Canva Grow, and builds on capabilities introduced through MagicBrief.

Reinforcement Learning Integration

MangoAI’s technology enables reinforcement learning systems that adapt creative content dynamically based on campaign performance signals. This allows marketing teams to optimise creative output using live data rather than static A/B testing approaches.

By integrating MangoAI, Canva strengthens its AI-driven marketing tools, helping businesses move toward continuous, performance-based creative optimisation.

Leadership Appointments to Drive AI Innovation

As part of the acquisition, MangoAI co-founder Nirmal Govind joins Canva as Chief Algorithms Officer, a newly created executive role.

Previously Vice President of Data Science & Engineering at Netflix, Govind brings over two decades of experience in large-scale machine learning systems. At Canva, he will oversee:

Personalisation systems

Algorithmic infrastructure

AI research initiatives

In-house model development in collaboration with Canva’s AI Lab

Co-founder Vinith Misra, formerly a machine learning scientist and leader at Roblox and Netflix, joins as Reinforcement Learning Lead within Canva’s Research Lab.

These appointments signal Canva’s intent to deepen its AI research capabilities and develop proprietary machine learning systems at scale.

Strategic Outlook: Building a Unified Creative Ecosystem

The addition of MangoAI and Cavalry expands Canva’s capabilities across several critical areas:

2D animation and motion design

Reinforcement learning systems

AI-powered creative optimisation

Marketing intelligence and analytics

Professional-grade design workflows

Cliff Obrecht, Co-founder and COO of Canva, emphasised the company’s vision:

We’ve always believed creative tools should be accessible to everyone. With Cavalry joining Canva, we’re taking another major step toward helping professional designers move away from bloated and costly tools, bringing everything from vector to motion design into one unified creative suite.

On MangoAI’s integration, he added:

MangoAI’s algorithms and learning loops will support the next generation of our AI-driven marketing tools, laying the groundwork for a new phase where performance data continuously improves and adapts creative in real time.

Why These Acquisitions Matter

Canva’s strategy reflects a broader shift in the creative software industry:

Convergence of design and AI – Creative tools are increasingly powered by machine learning and automation.

Unification of workflows – Designers, marketers, and enterprises seek integrated platforms rather than fragmented toolchains.

Performance-driven creativity – Marketing teams require measurable, real-time optimisation rather than static campaign execution.

By combining animation tools, AI optimisation systems, and marketing intelligence within a single ecosystem, Canva positions itself as a comprehensive alternative to traditional creative software giants.

Conclusion

The acquisitions of MangoAI and Cavalry mark a significant step in Canva’s evolution from a design platform into a full-scale AI-powered creative and marketing suite. By expanding into professional animation and advanced reinforcement learning systems, Canva strengthens its appeal to both creative professionals and enterprise marketing teams.

As competition intensifies in the global creative software market, these acquisitions reinforce Canva’s ambition to deliver accessible, powerful, and intelligent tools — all within a unified design ecosystem built for the future of AI-driven creativity.

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