Canva acquires Simtheory and Ortto to boost AI and marketing tools

On Wednesday, Canva announced the dual acquisition of Simtheory, an AI collaboration and agent management platform, and Ortto, a customer data and marketing automation company. The financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. As part of the agreement, founders Chris Sharkey and Mike Sharkey will join Canva in leadership roles across the company’s AI and marketing technology teams. The acquisitions are part of Canva’s continued investment in AI and marketing infrastructure.

The acquisitions are part of a broader strategy to transition Canva from a design-focused platform into a comprehensive system for marketing and productivity, leveraging agentic AI—AI systems capable of performing tasks autonomously—and data infrastructure. Simtheory’s platform allows teams to use AI to build assistants that understand their business, work across tools, and handle real tasks. According to Canva co-founder and COO Cliff Obrecht, “Simtheory accelerates our evolution from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design and productivity tools at its core.”

Meanwhile, Ortto strengthens Canva’s capabilities in marketing automation. Ortto combines a customer data platform—software that aggregates and organizes customer data—with marketing automation, allowing teams to design and run customer journeys across email, SMS, and other channels. The integration of Ortto is intended to strengthen Canva’s ability to power the marketing and content lifecycle through Canva Grow, which is the company’s tool for asset creation and performance measurement.

Ortto brings an established footprint, operating with more than 11,000 customers across 190 countries. The dual transaction is part of a larger acquisition campaign by Canva. Two weeks ago, the company acquired digital outdoor advertising startup Doohly. Six weeks ago, Canva announced the acquisition of Cavalry and MangoAI. Prior to those deals, Canva acquired MagicBrief in January 2025.

This expansion supports Canva’s ongoing growth as it scales its user base and financial performance:

• Annualized revenue: Canva closed 2025 at $4 billion in annualized revenue.
• Total users: The platform has reached more than 265 million users.
• Paid users: Canva has 31 million paid users.
• User growth: The company achieved a 20% increase in monthly active users.

Why it matters

Canva is aggressively expanding its product surface area, moving beyond simple design into a comprehensive ‘work OS’ that handles the entire marketing lifecycle, from AI-driven creation to performance measurement.