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Canva Buys Simtheory and Ortto to Speed Its Shift to an AI Work Suite

The back-to-back buys signal a push to fold AI agents with marketing automation into one work hub before next week’s showcase.

Overview

  • Canva, which announced the acquisitions Wednesday, said adding Simtheory and Ortto will help turn its design app into a place where teams plan, create, publish, and measure work.
  • Financial terms were not disclosed, and brothers Chris and Mike Sharkey will take leadership roles at Canva after selling both firms they founded.
  • Simtheory builds AI assistants that learn a company’s needs, connect to other software, and carry out multi‑step tasks across tools.
  • Ortto brings a customer data platform plus no‑code marketing automation used by more than 11,000 customers in 190 countries, which Canva says will power lifecycle work in its Canva Grow product.
  • The timing precedes the April 16 Canva Create event in Los Angeles and extends a buying streak that includes Doohly, Cavalry, MangoAI, MagicBrief, and others, as Canva points to $4 billion in annualized revenue, 265 million monthly users, and a likely IPO in the coming years.