Canva doubles down on AI and marketing automation with Simtheory, Ortto acquisitions

Canva doubles down on AI and marketing automation with Simtheory, Ortto acquisitions

Canva announced on Wednesday the twin acquisition of Simtheory, an AI collaboration and agent administration platform, and Ortto, a buyer data and marketing automation company. The monetary phrases of the offers weren’t disclosed. Canva says the acquisitions are a part of its continued funding in AI and marketing infrastructure. 

Both corporations had been based by Chris and Mike Sharkey, beforehand founders of trip rental service Stayz, which was acquired by Fairfax Media. The pair will be part of Canva in management roles across the company’s AI and marketing technology groups.

Canva says the acquisitions add strengths in agentic AI, data infrastructure, marketing automation, and buyer engagement, serving to Canva evolve from a design tool right into a system the place groups do all of their work from start to complete. The additions prolong Canva’s capabilities across the full workflow, from early concepts to campaign scaling and measurement.

Image Credits:Simtheory

Simtheory’s platform helps groups use AI to build assistants that perceive their enterprise, work across instruments, and deal with real duties. Simtheory lets groups apply the latest fashions across various use circumstances and arrange agentic workflows tailor-made to their wants.

On the other hand, Ortto combines a buyer data platform with marketing automation, letting groups design and run journeys across e mail, SMS, push, in-app messaging, varieties, and surveys in a single system. Its event-driven structure and no-code integrations make it simple to attach and activate data in real time, Canva says. The platform is utilized by more than 11,000 prospects in 190 nations.

“Simtheory accelerates our evolution from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design and productivity tools at its core,” said Canva co-founder and COO Cliff Obrecht, in a press release. “At the same time, Ortto strengthens our ability to power the entire marketing and content lifecycle through Canva Grow, from planning and creating to publishing and optimising across every channel.”

Image Credits:Ortto

Canva Grow is the company’s tool for asset creation and performance measurement.

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These latest acquisitions come as Canva has been on a little bit of an acquisition spree. Two weeks in the past, the company acquired digital outside promoting startup Doohly. Six weeks in the past, Canva announced the twin acquisition of startups Cavalry, which works on animation, and MangoAI, which works on enhancing advert performance. Before that, Canva acquired marketing intelligence startup MagicBrief in January 2025.

Canva closed 2025 at $4 billion in annualized income with more than 265 million customers and 31 million paid customers. The company also noticed a 20% improve in month-to-month lively customers.

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