CANVA INVESTS IN MORE AI FOR GROWTH

Following last year’s massive $370m investment in AI, through the acquisition of Leonardo AI, online design juggernaut Canva will acquire Australian AI business Magic Brief.

The deal came as Canva’s paying base surged by five million users over the past nine months, with 25 million people now on its subscription service. Canva has some 240 million monthly active users, with its annual revenue now at $4.6 billion.

Canva is rapidly developing its AI-powered applications; it launched AI-powered Magic Charts in April, which turns data into animated visualisations, and at the same released Canva AI, which it says will enable users to use verbal prompts to edit photos and generate images.

MagicBrief is an Australian creative intelligence startup, that says it is reimagining how teams create content that converts. Founded just three years ago, it has quickly carved out space as one of the most innovative tools trusted by leading brands, marketers, and agencies across the globe, pop superstar Rhianna’s Fenty brand is one of its users.

Its AI-powered platform makes it easier for marketers to unlock, understand, and respond to the content strategies, formats, and messages that perform best. Canva said, “Together, we’ll fuel the entire marketing and content lifecycle – from ideation and creation to deployment, measurement, and now analysis and optimisation.”

Magic Brief, located around the corner from Canva’s global head office in Surry Hills, NSW, will remain as an independent operation for the time being. Its ten staff and founders will all stay with the company.

Canva has already used AI for its own business, axing many of its technical writing staff and replacing them with AI, and doing the same with its finance department.