Canva Expands Creative Offerings with Startup Acquisitions

The design platform aims to become a one-stop shop for marketing solutions by adding animation and performance measurement capabilities.

Published on Feb. 24, 2026

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Canva, the popular design platform, has announced the acquisition of two startups - Cavalry, which specializes in 2D motion animation, and Mango AI, which works on improving video ad performance. The acquisitions are part of Canva's strategy to bolster its position as a comprehensive marketing solution by adding video creation and more granular measurement capabilities to its existing suite of photo, vector, and layout editing tools.

Why it matters

The acquisitions demonstrate Canva's ambition to become a one-stop shop for creative and marketing needs. By integrating Cavalry's animation tools and Mango AI's ad optimization technology, Canva aims to provide users with a complete professional suite spanning photo, vector, layout, and now motion editing. This move positions Canva as a formidable competitor in the growing creative and marketing technology space.

The details

Canva's acquisition of Cavalry, a UK-based startup working on 2D motion animation, will add video editing capabilities to its Affinity creative suite. Meanwhile, the acquisition of stealth startup Mango AI, founded by former Netflix executives, will enhance Canva's marketing products with reinforcement learning-powered ad performance optimization. These acquisitions come on the heels of Canva's previous acquisitions of marketing intelligence startup Magicbrief and the launch of its growth tool, Canva Grow, in 2025.

  • Canva acquired Cavalry and Mango AI in February 2026.
  • Canva revamped its Affinity design suite and made it free for all users in 2025.
  • Canva acquired marketing intelligence startup Magicbrief in January 2025 and launched Canva Grow later that year.

The players

Canva

A popular design platform that offers a suite of creative tools for photo, vector, layout, and now motion editing.

Cavalry

A UK-based startup that specializes in 2D motion animation for various industries, including advertising, marketing, gaming, and generative art.

Mango AI

A stealth startup founded by former Netflix executives Nirmal Govind and Vinith Misra, which was working on building reinforcement learning systems to improve video ad performance.

Nirmal Govind

The former Vice President of Data Science & Engineering at Netflix, who will become Canva's first 'Chief Algorithms Officer'.

Vinith Misra

A former data scientist at Netflix and Roblox, who will work on improving Canva's marketing products.

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What they’re saying

“It is quite an early product, but we'll soon be launching a lot more things around video creation, deploying across multi platform. So it's very early, but it's very much got a very loyal small user base, but a lot of big brands are spending money, and then we're scaling up massively.”

— Cliff Obrecht, Canva Co-Founder and COO (TechCrunch)

What’s next

Canva plans to further integrate Cavalry's animation tools and Mango AI's ad optimization technology into its existing suite of creative and marketing products, aiming to provide users with a comprehensive platform for their design and marketing needs.

The takeaway

Canva's strategic acquisitions of Cavalry and Mango AI demonstrate the company's ambition to become a dominant player in the creative and marketing technology space, offering a one-stop solution for businesses and professionals seeking a robust set of design, animation, and marketing tools.