Canva Acquires Simtheory and Ortto: AI at the Heart of Its Strategy

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Key Takeaways

1Canva has acquired Simtheory and Ortto to enhance its AI and marketing automation capabilities.

2Simtheory, specializing in AI collaboration, will enable Canva to centralize user tasks.

3Ortto, with its marketing automation solutions, will enrich the Canva Grow platform.

💡Why it matters — These strategic acquisitions aim to make Canva a key player in the field of digital creation and marketing.

Canva Commits to an Ambitious AI Transformation

Canva, the renowned design platform, continues to broaden its horizons by integrating artificial intelligence technologies. With projected revenues reaching $4 billion by 2025 and a user base exceeding 265 million, Canva is in full expansion mode. To support this growth, the company is making significant investments in innovative tools. After already incorporating AI image and video generation capabilities with Leonardo.AI, Canva has also enhanced its graphic design, motion design, and advertising performance analysis skills through Affinity, Cavalry, and MangoAI, respectively. Today, Canva announces two significant new acquisitions.

Strategic Acquisitions for a Creative Platform

In its quest to become a true "creative operating system," Canva has recently acquired two companies: Simtheory and Ortto. The financial details of these transactions have not been disclosed. Both companies were founded by brothers Chris and Mike Sharkey, who will join Canva in leadership positions within the AI and marketing teams.

Simtheory: Revolutionizing Collaboration with AI

Simtheory, one of the newly acquired companies, specializes in AI collaboration and agent management. Canva aims to evolve from a simple design platform with AI tools to an AI platform that integrates design and productivity tools. Simtheory provides professional teams with AI assistants capable of understanding their work, collaborating on various tasks, and utilizing different tools. These assistants handle concrete missions while ensuring the control and reliability necessary for businesses. Through this acquisition, Canva seeks to centralize its users' tasks, thereby simplifying their workflows.

Ortto: Spotlight on Marketing Automation

At the same time, Canva has also acquired Ortto, a marketing automation solution with over 11,000 clients across 190 countries. Ortto stands out for its ability to combine customer data with comprehensive marketing automation, encompassing emails, SMS, push notifications, integrated messaging, forms, and surveys. With Ortto, Canva aims to enhance its content creation and performance measurement tool, Canva Grow. The goal is to reduce tool fragmentation and provide a unified service to users to help them achieve their marketing objectives.

An Event Not to Be Missed: Canva Create 2026

Canva has scheduled an event for its users on April 16, 2026, for Canva Create 2026, where the first results of these acquisitions will be presented. The company promises a "complete overhaul" of its creation process, emphasizing its commitment to staying at the forefront of innovation in the digital creation space.