Canva, a major web-based design platform and serious competitor to Adobe, has announced its acquisition of Leonardo, an AI content generation company. This move shows Canva’s commitment to expanding its product line and leading in AI design technology.
Enhancing Visual Capabilities with AI
This strategic purchase follows Canva’s entry into photo editing with the acquisition of Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher software in March. Leonardo provides a range of AI tools for creating images and videos that users can customize. These tools offer designers many features. Additionally, Leonardo offers AI photo editing tools like image quality enhancement and format conversion to PNG.
Integration and Continuity
Cameron Adams, a co-founder of Canva, stated that Leonardo will continue to develop its web platform as a separate product, similar to Affinity. According to The Verge, Leonardo’s Phoenix technology will soon merge with Canva’s Magic Studio products, including the Magic Media tools. All Leonardo employees, including executives, will join the Canva team.
Canva’s Excitement
“We are thrilled to welcome Leonardo, a leading AI content generation company, to the Canva family. This partnership helps us create the best AI design technology in the world,” said Canva in a press release.
“With Leonardo’s strong foundational model and their team of 120 researchers, engineers, and designers, this acquisition boosts our ability to improve our AI products. We will continue to invest in research and development to explore the future of visual AI.”
Challenging the Design Software Giant
Melanie Perkins, CEO of Canva, has stated that the design world needs more alternatives to Adobe. The acquisition of Leonardo is part of Canva’s long-term plan to build a complete and powerful design ecosystem and challenge Adobe’s dominance.
In an interview with The Verge podcast, Perkins said, “There hasn’t been a strong challenger in the design market for a long time. This market has been somewhat monopolistic, and we believe this monopoly benefits no one, especially consumers and professional designers. With Canva as a powerful alternative, we will see innovation and improved services for the design community.”
Conclusion
The financial details of Canva’s acquisition of Leonardo have not yet been officially disclosed.