Canva has acquired generative AI content material and analysis startup Leonardo.ai because it appears to bolster its funding in its AI tech stack.
Monetary phrases of the acquisition weren’t disclosed, however Canva co-founder and chief product officer Cameron Adams mentioned it was a mixture of money and inventory. All 120 Leonardo.ai staff will be part of Canva, together with the corporate’s administration staff.
“Leonardo will proceed to function independently from Canva and can give attention to speedy innovation, analysis and improvement backed by Canva’s assets,” Adams instructed TechCrunch. “All of Leonardo’s present instruments and options will proceed to be out there. This acquisition is meant to assist Leonardo develop its platform and drive consumer progress with our investments, together with increasing its API enterprise and investing in analysis and improvement of its underlying mannequin.”
Based in 2022, Sydney-based Leonardo.ai was initially going to give attention to creating belongings for video video games (the startup’s founders met whereas working at online game corporations), however the Leonardo.ai staff then determined to construct the platform to handle extra situations, resembling creating and coaching AI fashions for picture creation throughout industries like vogue, promoting and structure.
At present, Leonardo.ai gives collaboration instruments and a personal cloud for fashions, together with a video generator, in addition to entry to APIs that enable prospects to construct their very own tech infrastructure on high of Leonardo.ai’s platform.
Leonardo.ai differentiates itself from different generative AI artwork platforms by the quantity of management it offers customers, co-founders Jachin Bhasme, JJ Fiasson, and Chris Gillis instructed TechCrunch in an interview final December. For instance, Leonardo.ai’s Reside Canvas function permits customers to enter a textual content immediate after which simply sketch out what they need the top end result to appear to be. Because the consumer sketches, Leonardo.ai creates a photorealistic picture in actual time based mostly on each the textual content and sketch prompts.
It is unclear how Leonardo.ai trains its in-house generative fashions, resembling its flagship mannequin, Phoenix, however given the authorized ramifications of coaching copyrighted content material with out permission, it is an vital query to ask about any generative AI service. We have reached out for clarification and can replace this put up if we hear again.
Canva itself has been comparatively supportive of creators’ adoption of generative AI, promising to pay out $200 million over the subsequent few years to creators who agree to make use of their content material to coach the corporate’s AI fashions.
speedy progress
Leonardo.ai has over 19 million registered customers, and its instruments have been used to create over 1 billion photographs.
Adams mentioned Leonardo.ai, which raised greater than $38.8 million in funding from backers together with Smash Capital, Blackbird, Facet Stage Ventures, TIRTA Ventures, Gaorong Capital and Samsung Subsequent previous to the acquisition, will probably be instrumental in contributing to Canva’s Magic Studio generative AI suite.
“We’re excited to discover integrating Leonardo’s know-how into Magic Studio,” mentioned Adams. “It will embody additional enhancing our present Magic Studio instruments in addition to bringing new generative AI capabilities immediately into Canva that leverage Leonardo’s fashions. We’re nonetheless within the early phases and will probably be working collectively quickly to find out what it will appear to be, however we’re excited to develop what our customers can do with AI in Canva.”
Canva has been investing in generative AI instruments since December 2022, together with copywriting assistant Magic Write. However with an IPO in sight, it has ramped up improvement efforts in current months via each inside tasks and acquisitions. In February 2021, Canva acquired Kaleido, a developer of a drag-and-drop background removing service for photographs and movies. Adams mentioned Kaleido laid the groundwork for a lot of of Canva’s current generative AI efforts.
Leonardo.ai marks Canva’s eighth acquisition general and second this yr after the corporate purchased British design agency Affinity three months in the past for an estimated $380 million. Canva additionally owns presentation startup Zeetings, free inventory photograph websites Pixabay and Pexels, and Czech Republic-based product mockup app Smartmockups.
Based in 2012, Canva has raised over $560 million (at a most up-to-date valuation of $26 billion), has practically $2 billion in income, and boasts greater than 180 million month-to-month customers worldwide.
“This is a vital and pure subsequent step in our efforts to construct essentially the most highly effective all-in-one visible AI product,” mentioned Adams. “We have been targeted on constructing AI-powered workflows, together with generative options like picture and design technology. Combining Canva’s workflows with our new generative capabilities will assist us differentiate our AI choices and proceed to ship new prospects to the rising base of groups and companies that use Canva.”
