Online design platform Canva has announced plans to acquire Australian generative AI content and research startup Leonardo.ai, part of its goal to build a "world-class visual AI toolkit." Although the financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, Canva will gain access to a range of user-customizable text-to-image and text-to-video generators from Leonardo.ai.
Cameron Adams, co-founder of Canva, stated in the announcement that Leonardo.ai will "continue to develop its web platform as an independent product," similar to Canva's acquisition of the Affinity creative software suite in March. The technology and Phoenix foundational models of Leonardo.ai will also be "rapidly" integrated into Canva's existing Magic Studio product suite, such as Magic Media image and video generators.
Canva has been working to diversify its platform by adding office suite-like tools, but its visual design and communication platform remains one of the biggest competitors to Adobe's creative software products. The acquisition of Affinity could help Canva compete with Adobe's Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign, while Leonardo.ai could similarly be positioned as an alternative to Adobe's Firefly generative AI model.
Leonardo.ai told TechCrunch that its models are trained using "licensed, synthetic, and publicly available/open-source data," which is more opaque than Adobe's disclosure about Firefly's training. Nevertheless, Adobe recently faced backlash due to policy updates, forcing it to clarify that user data would not be used to train the company's generative AI models. Canva has the opportunity to position itself as a growing alternative, but it needs to tread carefully to avoid similar scrutiny from creators who have reservations about generative AI.
Through this acquisition, Canva not only expands its technological capabilities but also secures a more advantageous competitive position in the market. The addition of generative AI technology promises to provide users with richer and more advanced creative tools, further solidifying Canva's influence in the design field.