Canva has announced its intention to acquire MagicBrief as the design juggernaut eyes a major platform expansion.
Key Takeaways
- Canva is set to acquire Australian AI-powered creative intelligence platform, MagicBrief, though terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
- The acquisition marks an expansion of Canva’s Visual Suite platform, bringing data, insights and design under a new collaborative workflow.
- It also bolsters Canva’s push into the enterprise and marketing space.
Key background
Australian-born designed company Canva, which launched in 2013 and is now valued at about $39 billion, has been on an acquisition spree as it seeks to expand its platform. In 2024, it acquired Affinity, a software platform for creative professionals in a deal worth US$380 million (AU$579 million), and Leonardo.ai, a generative AI content production platform. (Since 2019, Canva has picked up the likes of Flourish, Kaleido, SmartMockups, Pexels, Pixabay and SlidesCarnival.)
Now, Canva’s announced its intention to acquire MagicBrief – an Australian creative intelligence platform that uses AI-powered scoring, competitor recommendations, and intelligent brief generation for creatives, to make it easier for marketers to perform. Under the acquisition, MagicBrief’s technology will be brought into Canva to help teams create content that’s informed and improved by real-time performance data.
“We started MagicBrief to give creative teams smarter tools to move faster and make better work. Joining Canva takes that vision to the next level – helping us reach more marketers and turn great ideas into high performing creative,” said George Howes, Co-Founder and CEO of MagicBrief.
Big number
$6 billion. That’s how much ad spend MagicBrief claims to have analysed for brands and performance marketing teams including Fenty Beauty, Koala and Linktree.
Crucial quote
“Now, with MagicBrief joining Canva, we’re entering the next frontier by powering the entire content and marketing workflow, from ideation and creation to deployment, measurement, and now analysis and optimisation,” said Cliff Obrecht, Co-Founder and COO of Canva.
Tangent
Canva co-founder Cameron Adams, with an estimated fortune is US$2.9 billion (AU$5.4 billion), recently joined co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht in giving the majority of his fortune to charity as part of The Giving Pledge. Adams and wife Lisa Miller promised to donate the majority of their wealth to protect and restore biodiversity through the Wedgetail Foundation.
