Canva, the Australian design platform valued at about $60bn, is acquiring both Simtheory and Ortto for undisclosed amounts as it continues to expand beyond simple design tools into more sophisticated data-driven marketing and automation services. The two acquired businesses were previously built and sold by the same founders who created rental site Stayz, which was offloaded in the mid‑2000s and later resold for more than 10 times the original price, showing a long track record of building valuable digital assets.
Under this latest deal, Canva folds in the teams and technology behind Simtheory and Ortto at a time when many software-as-a-service providers are cutting back rather than buying. While Canva spends to secure specialist marketing automation and AI expertise, other tech groups are slimming down workforces, with local software companies and major global providers together shedding tens of thousands of roles as they respond to rapid advances in AI that change how products are built and supported.
In the bigger picture, Canva’s acquisitions look like a bet that investing in talent and AI tools now will pay off in deeper customer engagement and new revenue streams, even as the rest of the sector tightens belts. If the strategy works, Canva could widen its lead in the design and marketing space but the same AI forces driving its expansion seem to be pushing other players into restructuring, and it remains to be seen whether buying during a downturn proves smarter than cutting costs.
