Canva Acquires AI Image Generator Leonardo

Canva announced today that it’s acquiring Leonardo.ai, an AI image generation startup founded in 2022 for an undisclosed amount. The graphic design platform plans to integrate Leonardo’s AI-powered image and video creation tools into its products.

“From hobbyists to film directors, architects, and professional designers, Leonardo’s technology delivers advanced creative control that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in generative AI, while remaining intuitive and accessible,” Canva explained today. “Its models can generate stunning images in styles ranging from strikingly realistic photos to character portraits, anime, painterly styles, and more, while its AI video generation tools can bring almost any concept to dynamic life.”

Canva said today that Leonardo’s AI technology will be integrated into its own Magic Studio offering. However, the Leonardo.ai platform will continue to exist and operate independently, and the AI startup will be using Canva’s resources to scale up its research capabilities.

This is Canva’s second acquisition this year after the company snagged creative software maker Affinity back in March. To compete more seriously with Adobe, Canva also acquired the visual AI platform Kaleido.ai in recent years, as well as Pexels and Pixabay, two of the world’s biggest free stock content sites.

Canva, which was founded in Australia in 2013, now aims to build “a world-class suite of visual AI tools.” The company said today that Magic Studio, its collection of generative AI tools has been used more than 7 billion times since its launch in 2023.