Canva is doubling down on professional creativity and marketing technology. In a strategic move to expand its ecosystem, Canva acquires Cavalry and MangoAI, two startups focused on animation and AI-driven ad performance.

The dual acquisition signals Canva’s ambition to strengthen its Creative OS while deepening its presence in marketing and video optimization.

Canva Acquires Cavalry and MangoAI to Expand Creative Capabilities

With the announcement that Canva acquires Cavalry and MangoAI, the company is broadening its product stack across both creative production and marketing intelligence.

Cavalry, a UK-based startup, specializes in 2D motion animation across industries such as advertising, marketing, gaming, and generative art. Canva said Cavalry’s technology will integrate with Affinity, the professional design suite it acquired in 2024.

Affinity offers advanced photo, vector, and layout editing capabilities. After revamping Affinity’s design and making it free for users last year, Canva reported more than five million downloads of the software.

By adding Cavalry’s motion tools, Canva aims to fill what it described as a gap in motion editing. The company stated that integrating Cavalry will allow it to deliver a complete professional suite covering photo, vector, layout, and motion editing — positioning Affinity as part of a broader full-stack Creative OS.

Strengthening Marketing Intelligence With MangoAI

The second part of the announcement — that Canva acquires Cavalry and MangoAI — reflects the company’s push into AI-driven marketing optimization.

MangoAI, previously operating in stealth mode, focused on reinforcement learning systems designed to improve video ad performance. Its platform enabled clients to create campaigns, analyze outcomes, and refine future advertising strategies.

The startup was founded by Nirmal Govind, former Vice President of Data Science & Engineering at Netflix, and Vinith Misra, a former data scientist at Netflix and Roblox.

Canva confirmed that Govind will join the company as its first Chief Algorithms Officer, while Misra will focus on enhancing Canva’s marketing product suite.

Building a Marketing-Focused Creative Ecosystem

The announcement that Canva acquires Cavalry and MangoAI follows earlier moves to strengthen its marketing tools. In January 2025, Canva acquired marketing intelligence startup Magicbrief. Later that year, the company introduced Canva Grow, a growth-focused tool for asset creation and performance tracking.

Speaking at Web Summit Qatar earlier this month, Canva co-founder and COO Cliff Obrecht told TechCrunch that Canva Grow is performing strongly, particularly for static content creation and publishing to Meta platforms.

He noted that while the product is still early in its development cycle, the company plans to expand further into video creation and multi-platform deployment.

The integration of Cavalry’s motion editing tools and MangoAI’s reinforcement learning capabilities aligns with that roadmap, potentially enabling Canva to offer more granular video creation and campaign measurement.

Canva’s Growing Scale

Canva closed 2025 with $4 billion in annualized revenue, 265 million users, and 31 million paid subscribers. By acquiring both a motion design startup and an AI-driven ad performance company, Canva is reinforcing its ambition to become a comprehensive creative and marketing platform.

The move suggests Canva is not only competing in the design software market but also positioning itself as a full-service marketing technology provider.