Acquisition Details
Creative software company Canva on Monday revealed that it has purchased two startups — animation platform Cavalry and marketing technology firm Mango AI. With these acquisitions, the company aims to strengthen both its creative editing and marketing capabilities.
Cavalry to Boost Design Features
UK-based Cavalry builds 2D motion animation tools used across advertising, marketing, gaming, and generative art. Canva says the technology will enhance its professional design suite Affinity, which it acquired in 2024. Affinity already offers photo, vector, and layout editing.
Last year, Canva refreshed Affinity’s design and made the software free for users. Since then, downloads have crossed five million. The company now plans to introduce motion-editing features into the suite.
In a blog post, Canva said integrating Cavalry with Affinity will complete its editing workflow. Users will be able to handle photo, vector, layout, and motion design in one platform. The company believes this will help create a full-stack creative operating system while still giving professionals detailed control.
Mango AI and Advertising Tools
Alongside Cavalry, Canva also bought stealth startup Mango AI. The company developed reinforcement-learning systems designed to improve video ad performance. Its first product allowed businesses to launch ads, analyse results, and optimise future campaigns.
Former Netflix executives Nirmal Govind and Vinith Misra founded Mango AI. Govind will join Canva as its first Chief Algorithms Officer, while Misra will focus on improving the company’s marketing products.
Previous Marketing Expansions
In January 2025, Canva acquired marketing intelligence startup Magicbrief. Later, the company introduced Canva Grow, a tool that helps create marketing assets and measure campaign performance.
During the Web Summit Qatar event, Canva co-founder and COO Cliff Obrecht said Canva Grow has performed strongly, especially for creating static content and publishing it on Meta platforms. He added that the company plans to roll out video-creation and multi-platform publishing features soon.
Business Growth Plans
Through these deals, Canva aims to expand its position as a marketing platform. The company plans to add video-creation tools and more detailed performance analytics.
Canva closed 2025 with around $4 billion in annualised revenue. It also reported more than 265 million users and about 31 million paid subscribers.
