Canva buys animation and AI startups

Cavalry specializes in 2D motion animation for advertising, marketing, gaming and generative art. Canva said the company’s technology will be integrated into Affinity, its professional creative editing suite for photos, vectors and layouts, which it acquired in 2024.

After revamping Affinity’s design last year, Canva made the software free for all users, leading to more than 5 million downloads. By adding Cavalry’s tools, Canva aims to introduce motion editing to Affinity’s existing photo, vector and layout capabilities.

In a blog post, Canva said the move will help close the gap in motion editing and create a complete professional suite. The company described the expanded offering as the foundation of a full-stack Creative OS for professional work, while maintaining the depth and control creative professionals expect.

Canva also acquired Mango AI, a startup developing reinforcement learning systems to improve video ad performance. According to its website, Mango AI’s first product helped clients create and launch ads, monitor results and refine future campaigns.

Mango AI was founded by Nirmal Govind, former Vice President of Data Science and Engineering at Netflix, and Vinith Misra, a former data scientist at Netflix and Roblox. Govind will join Canva as its first Chief Algorithms Officer, while Misra will focus on enhancing Canva’s marketing products.

The acquisitions build on Canva’s recent marketing push. In January 2025, the company acquired marketing intelligence startup Magicbrief and later launched Canva Grow, a tool designed for asset creation and performance measurement.

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