Canva Double Acquires Simtheory and Ortto to Boost AI Power
Synopsis
Canva takes a stranglehold in the AI software industry by buying Simtheory and Ortto Simtheory has a particular expertise in agentic AI, where users can engage with an autonomous digital assistant to work together on complex workflows. Ortto offers a powerful customer data and marketing automation platform that allows Canva to power the entire marketing lifecycle between design and deployment. These acquisitions are part of Canva’s transformation from a design tool to an AI-first work system, with more details coming during the upcoming Canva Create on April 16
The design behemoth Canva announced a dual acquisition of two Australian tech businesses Simtheory and Ortto. The move is part of a larger effort by Canva to transition from a basic design tool into a comprehensive work system driven by artificial intelligence.
Key Highlights
- Simtheory and Ortto were both acquired by Canva on 8 Apr, 2026.
- Simtheory assists teams in completing complex tasks using AI agents.
- Ortto is a marketing email and customer data platform
- These deals extend Canva beyond design into marketing automation.
- The new tools will be a big focus of the Canva Create event on April 16.
Canva Doubles Down on AI, Acquiring Simtheory and Ortto
Canva has acquired two companies at once to supercharge its AI and marketing capabilities. Simtheory is a work platform that enables workers to use AI agents, smart software capable of reasoning and acting independently, to get their tasks done faster.
Ortto provides a customer data-focused tool that automates emails, SMSs, and app notifications. By adding these two teams, Canva is indicating that it wants to be the place where businesses not only design their ads, but send them and track how they’re doing.
Canva makes a major move in competing with other software giants through this double acquisition. Canva is building a full-stack system instead of just being a place to make a pretty flyer. That means a marketing team could come up with an idea using Simtheory’s AI, use Canva to design it and then use Ortto’s technology to blast it out to thousands of customers in seconds. It streamlines the whole process by having everything in one place.
Moving Toward Agentic AI
Central to this deal is Simtheory’s emphasis on agentic AI. If traditional AI does nothing more than answer questions, an AI agent goes out and accomplishes tasks, reads a database or organises a calendar. Canva pictures a future where humans and AI agents collaborate to turn a fleeting thought into a complete marketing campaign.
With the Simtheory acquisition, Canva is positioning itself as an AI-first firm. They’re gearing up to show off a huge update at their Canva Create event later this month. Most experts say this update will let users assign a goal to their Canva account.
Strengthening Canva Grow for Businesses
Ortto’s acquisition is aimed at bolstering Canva Grow, a suite of business marketing tools the company has released. Ortto has more than 11,000 customers globally and works best at one of the things it calls customer journeys. It knows exactly when to send a welcome email or a special discount text, depending on what an end consumer does on a website.
With Ortto folded into its own system, Canva can now provide an end-to-end service. These are ideation (coming up with the idea), creation (designing the visuals), deployment (putting it out there) and measurement (checking how many people clicked). This makes their software far more optimal, for Canva, because if the company can do every part of a business’s daily work, it’s less likely that the business will bail for another platform.
A Growing Buying Spree
Canva is very much on a spending spree in the race for AI dominance. And earlier this year they also acquired other tech companies like Cavalry for 2D animation and MangoAI for video ads. All these elements are converging to create a platform that is much more than just a simple photo editor.
Canva has billions in revenue, a quarter of a billion people opening the app each month, and is using that wealth to buy up technology gold. It’s a strategy that keeps them ahead of competitors, like Adobe and Google.
FAQs
- Who did Canva buy?
They purchased two Australian companies: Simtheory and Ortto (marketing automation).
- What are AI agents?
These are intelligent tools that can organise and complete work assignments on their own, not just respond to questions.
- Why does Canva need Ortto?
Ortto allows Canva to send emails and messages to customers, which means that it can help with marketing in the sense of making sure that those things are getting sent out, not just designing them.
- Is Canva still only about design?
No they are, coming down the road to be a complete work system that unifies data, AI and marketing in one.
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