Buys AI firms Simtheory and Ortto to boost AI capabilities
Canva has acquired two Australia-based tech companies in a deal designed to accelerate its transformation from design platform to end-to-end AI working system as the $60 billion company navigates one of the most turbulent periods in enterprise software history.
The Sydney-based design giant has acquired AI collaboration and agent management platform Simtheory and customer data and marketing automation company Ortto for an undisclosed amount of money.
The moves come at a time when AI companies are taking off in public markets but traditional software firms are being punished and Canva, which is close to listing, is trying to convince the world that it belongs in the former camp.
The deals come a week before Canva Create, the company’s glitzy annual event that will draw more than 5,000 people at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on April 16. It will mark “the most important moment in Canva history,” CEO Melanie Perkins told investors.
Simtheory enables teams to create AI assistants, collaborate across tasks and applications, and deploy agent systems. Ortto combines its customer data platform with marketing automation via email, SMS, push notifications, and in-app messaging.
Both companies were founded by Chris Sharkey and his brother Mike Sharkey, who previously co-founded online booking site Stayz. Mike Sharkey said he’s excited about the chance to make the company’s vehicles available to more people through a buying firm that shares their values.
Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht told this masthead that the acquisition of Simtheory will enable the company to roll out AI tools more quickly. “We could do something similar over time, but it’s really important to get these capabilities into the hands of our customers faster,” said Obrecht, Canva’s chief operating officer.
These acquisitions extend Canva’s acquisition spree of Leonardo.AI, MagicBrief, Affinity, Cavalry, Doohly and MangoAI in recent years. Acquisitions and various internally developed products helped Canva grow from a graphic design company into a company that sells a wide range of productivity tools.
Canva now claims to be one of only three true full productivity suites, alongside Microsoft and Google. “We are currently used by more than 95 percent of the Fortune 500, and our fastest-growing use cases are all related to workplace productivity,” Obrecht said. “Presentations are our fastest growing category, with more than 4 billion presentations created to date.”
The company also faces existential questions about what its AI goals mean for designers, marketers, and content professionals whose work the platform increasingly automates.
While other major tech companies such as Atlassian, WiseTech, Block and others have faced serious backlash over AI-driven workforce reductions, Canva has so far avoided such layoffs. “We see AI not as a cost-cutting exercise, but as an opportunity to do more,” Obrecht said. “The volume of content our community needs to create is growing incredibly quickly. AI is helping meet this demand, but it is not replacing the need for human creativity and judgment.”
The global software industry is being hit by what analysts are calling the “SaaSpocalypse,” a brutal repricing of enterprise software businesses as investors grapple with whether artificial intelligence could hollow out the recurring revenue models that underpin industry valuations.
Atlassian recently laid off 10 percent of its workforce and its market value dropped to $26 billion; The share price also dropped by 65 percent in the last 12 months, from $183 to $64 (from $260 to $90).
Since its listing last July, shares of Canva rival Figma have fallen nearly 80 percent, while Google’s recently launched AI design product Stitch, which allows companies to create websites and apps from plain language descriptions, has also triggered sales at Figma and Canva rival Adobe.
Canva says it’s in a strong position, finishing last year with $4 billion in annual revenue (a metric that reflects tech companies’ earnings last month multiplied by 12) and more than 265 million active monthly users.
The company, widely seen as Australia’s most successful tech start-up, continues to move towards an IPO that is expected to make some of its more than 5,500 employees instant millionaires.
Speculation is that the most likely window for an IPO will be 2027, possibly settled on the NASDAQ in the US. To prepare for its public launch, the company brought on chief financial officer Kelly Steckelberg, the executive who successfully guided Zoom through its blockbuster IPO.
“It’s on the horizon, but we have no news on that front,” Obrecht said.
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David Swan is the technology editor of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor of The Australian newspaper.Connect with: X or email.
