Canva announced on Wednesday that it has officially acquired AI collaboration platform Simtheory and customer data and marketing automation company Ortto. The financial terms of the double acquisition were not disclosed.
Both companies were founded by the entrepreneurial duo Chris Sharkey and Mike Sharkey, who previously founded the vacation rental service Stayz before selling it to Fairfax Media. Following the acquisition, the pair will join Canva’s leadership team to oversee the company’s R&D and strategic planning in AI and marketing technology.
Building an End-to-End Intelligent Workflow
Canva stated that the acquisitions are intended to strengthen its capabilities in agentic AI, data infrastructure, marketing automation, and customer engagement. By integrating the technology from these two companies, Canva is shifting from a standalone design tool into a comprehensive system capable of supporting teams through their entire end-to-end workflows.
Simtheory’s core strength lies in its AI collaboration features, which enable teams to build AI assistants that understand business logic and execute tasks across various tools. The platform allows enterprise users to deploy customized, complex agentic workflows tailored to their specific needs.
Meanwhile, Ortto’s Customer Data Platform (CDP) and marketing automation tools will significantly enhance Canva’s user engagement capabilities. Ortto supports the design of marketing journeys across multiple channels, including email, SMS, in-app messaging, and surveys. According to Canva, Ortto currently serves over 11,000 enterprise customers across 190 countries, thanks to its event-driven architecture and no-code integration capabilities.
Canva noted that this integration will help users seamlessly bridge the gap between initial creative ideation and the large-scale deployment and measurement of marketing campaigns. By deeply connecting design with marketing data, Canva aims to provide businesses with a more complete workflow solution, helping it maintain a competitive edge in the increasingly crowded office productivity market.
