Graphic design platform Canva has locked in a deal to acquire burgeoning generative AI startup Leonardo.Ai, in an all-Australian deal that will fast-track Leonardo’s exposure to more than 190 million monthly active users globally.
The Sydney-based Leonardo.Ai, which has almost tripled its registered users to 19 million since the end of last year, is already considered one of the country’s fastest-growing startups.
Canva, a US$26 billion ($39.6 billion) company that has been on its own rapid growth trajectory since 2013, says the acquisition is a critical milestone in its AI journey that adds to its suite of tools Leonardo.Ai’s capabilities that allow users to bring their ideas to life through production-quality images and videos.
Leonardo.ai, which was founded in 2022 by JJ Fiasson, Chris Gillis and Jachin Bhasme, has raised more than $47 million from venture capitalists with the company's market capitalisation touted by some sources to have been around $80 million at the end of last year. However, Canva has not revealed how much it is paying for the startup.
The Leonardo platform allows users to ‘build entire ecosystems of hyper-realistic art’ that helps in the production of games, video productions and marketing campaigns at a novice or professional level.
The technology is said to have been used to produce more than one billion images in the last 18 months.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Leonardo.AI to Canva, two Australian companies joining forces to bring world-first breakthroughs in AI and creativity," says Cameron Adams, co-founder and chief product officer of Canva.
“This field is constantly evolving, and Leonardo’s technical leadership and community impact can’t be overstated.
“Bringing our worlds together will accelerate each of our teams' work, taking us from strength to strength, and we can’t wait to get started.”
Canva says that Leonardo.AI has the capability of transforming ideas into production-quality visual assets with “unprecedented control, speed and style consistency”.
The startup’s new foundational model, Phoenix, is said to take creator control to the next level “with unprecedented prompt adherence, coherent, accurate text in images and the ability to generate production-ready assets in one shot”.
Canva envisages the merger will allow Leonardo to produce new levels of AI technology while also growing the startup’s user base.
“Today marks the start of a new chapter which will accelerate the pace we innovate at Leonardo.Ai,” says
Fiasson, the CEO of Leonardo.AI.
“Joining the Canva family means we can invest more deeply in scaling our AI research efforts globally and move even faster to deliver new features and functionality to creatives worldwide.”
Leonardo's technology is expected to complement Canva’s Magic Studio, which comprises a suite of AI tools that the company says have been used more than seven billion times following last year’s launch.
The Sydney-based Canva, which was founded by Cliff Obrecht, Melanie Perkins and Cameron Adams in 2013, plans to invest further in Leonardo.Ai while integrating its technology into the Magic Studio range of products.
“Working with Leonardo’s team of 120 high-calibre researchers, engineers, and designers will also bolster Canva’s research and development capabilities as the company continues to invest in long-term innovation opportunities,” says the company.
The acquisition of Leonardo.AI comes on the heels of Canva snaring UK-based creative software group Affinity in March this year, which brought to the Canva business the company’s award-winning tools for professional photo editing, illustration, graphic design and page layout.
Canva says that like Affinity, Leonardo.Ai will continue to develop its web platform for users while growth will be accelerated through Canva’s financial resources, expertise and licensed content from its Canva Creators program.
“We’ve been incredibly impressed by how quickly the brilliant team at Leonardo has been able to innovate, and we’re excited about the extraordinary potential of what we can do together,” says Canva.
“Leonardo will continue to operate independently and focus on rapid innovation, model research and product development.”
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