Canva, known for its creative suite, has announced the acquisition of two startups – Cavalry, specializing in 2D motion animation, and Mango AI, focused on enhancing ad performance. The move aims to strengthen Canva’s marketing offerings by potentially incorporating video creation tools and more detailed measurement capabilities.
UK-based Cavalry’s expertise lies in 2D motion animation across various sectors like advertising, marketing, gaming, and generative art. Canva plans to integrate Cavalry’s tooling with Affinity, its professional creative editing suite for photos, vectors, and layouts acquired in 2024. With Affinity already offering photo, vector, and layout editing functionalities, the addition of motion editing through Cavalry fills a crucial gap in Canva’s suite.
Additionally, Canva acquired Mango AI, a stealth startup founded by former Netflix executives, Nirmal Govind and Vinith Misra. Mango AI specialized in developing reinforcement learning systems to enhance video ad performance. Govind will assume the role of Canva’s first Chief Algorithms Officer, while Misra will focus on enhancing Canva’s marketing products.
These acquisitions follow Canva’s previous purchase of Magicbrief, a marketing intelligence startup, and the subsequent launch of Canva Grow, a growth tool facilitating asset creation and performance measurement. By incorporating animation capabilities and advanced ad performance tools, Canva aims to provide a comprehensive Creative OS for professionals, catering to their creative needs while expanding its market reach.
Source: TechCrunch