Canva has acquired Leonardo.ai, a generative AI content and research startup, as the company looks to deepen its investments in its AI tech stack.
The deal’s financial terms weren’t disclosed, but Canva co-founder and chief product officer Cameron Adams said it’s a mix of cash and stock. Leonardo.ai’s 120 employees, including the executive team, will join Canva.
“Leonardo will continue to run independently of Canva with a focus on rapid innovation, research, and development, now backed by Canva’s resources,” Adams told TechCrunch. “We’ll keep offering all of Leonardo’s existing tools and solutions. This acquisition aims to help Leonardo develop its platform and deepen their user growth with our investment, including by expanding their API business and investing in foundational model R&D.”
Sydney-based Leonardo.ai, founded in 2022, was originally meant to focus on video game asset creation. (The startup’s founders met while working at a video game company.) But then Leonardo.ai’s team decided to build the platform to meet more scenarios, like creating and training AI models for image creation across fashion, advertising, and architecture industries.
Today, Leonardo.ai offers collaboration tools and a private cloud for models including video generators, as well as access to APIs that let customers build their tech infrastructure on top of Leonardo.ai’s platform.
Leonardo.ai is Canva’s eighth acquisition overall and its second acquisition of the year, coming three months after it bought U.K. design company Affinity for an estimated $380 million.
Source: TechCrunch
