Canva recently announced that generative AI company Leonardo.Ai has joined the Canva family, marking a significant step towards building the world’s leading design AI technology.
With Leonardo.Ai’s robust foundational model and a talented team of 120 researchers, engineers, and designers, this acquisition strengthens Canva’s ability to enhance its suite of AI products and invest in ongoing research and innovation to shape the future of visual AI.
Since its inception in 2013, Canva has been on a mission to empower everyone to design. Today, visual communication is essential for teams and workplaces globally, and we’re proud to support over 190 million people in bringing their ideas to life. Despite its progress, Canva believes it has only achieved 1% of its mission, with many more horizons to explore.
Leonardo.Ai, like Affinity, will continue to develop its web platform for its millions of users, including business customers, now accelerated by Canva’s financial resources, expertise, and licensed content from the Canva Creators program.
Canva has been enhancing its artificial intelligence capabilities for several years, starting with the launch of its Background Remover tool in 2019. This journey continued with the acquisition of visual AI company Kaleido in 2021, the launch of its Text to Image tool in 2022, and the introduction of its comprehensive AI-powered suite, Magic Studio, in 2023.
Magic Studio has been used over 7 billion times since its launch. This year alone, the company has seen a 40% increase in monthly users leveraging our AI tools for various tasks, from summarizing documents to creating images and transforming brainstorming whiteboards into fully developed presentations.
With Leonardo’s addition, Canva will continue to lead innovation in the design and visual AI ecosystem. Leonardo’s team has quickly established an impressive record of innovation and excellence in AI-generated photos, graphics, and videos, with over 19 million users in just two years.
Canva plans to use this acquisition to accelerate Leonardo’s platform and user growth while integrating its leading technology and Phoenix foundational model into its existing Magic Studio products, including its AI image and video generator, Magic Media.
Continued investment in foundational model research and development will be crucial for both Canva and Leonardo.
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