Tech unicorn Canva buys AI firm Simtheory, marketing outfit Ortto, founded by startup veterans who sold Stayz

Design platform Canva has snapped up two businesses founded by startup veterans Chris and Mike Sharkey as it cements its status as an artificial intelligence tech titan. Canva, the WA-born web-based graphic design and publishing tool that valued itself at $US42 billion ($60b) in an employee share sale last August, announced the purchase of Simtheory and Ortto for an undisclosed sum on Thursday. Simtheory is an AI collaboration and agent management platform, while Ortto is a customer data and marketing automation company. Canva said the purchase advanced its ongoing plan to “become the system where teams do their best work from start to finish”. “This acquisition marks an important step toward evolving Canva from a design tool into the system where work happens end-to-end, whether it’s a quick idea or a full campaign,” Canva co-founder and chief operations officer Cliff Obrecht said. “Simtheory accelerates our evolution from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design and productivity tools at its core. “Ortto strengthens our ability to power the entire marketing and content lifecycle. “This builds on our recent acquisitions of MagicBrief, MangoAI and Doohly, and we’ve only scratched the surface of the opportunity here.” The Sharkey brothers, who pocketed millions selling online accommodation portal Stayz to Fairfax Media in 2005 and were also behind marketing automation startup Autopilot, will join Canva in leadership roles. The beefing up comes as AI’s rapid advance prompts a wave of redundancies, with tens of thousands of jobs axed at fellow Australian tech darling Atlassian, US-based AfterPay owner Block and Sydney-based logistics software company WiseTech Global. Canva said the deals propelled it further towards its long-term plan for a platform “that supports every stage of the process of creation .... where humans and AI collaborate to go from idea to finished product”. The tech unicorn promised to unveil its next major step “and the biggest evolution in its history” at its annual conference, Canva Create, on April 16. Canva was launched in a Dianella loungeroom by Mr Obrecht and Melanie Perkins, who met while she was studying at the University of WA. Backed by seed investor Blackbird Ventures, it started out offering easy-to-use tools for making school yearbooks but has since grown into a Sydney-based global behemoth, accelerated by its AI push. Canva claims to have more than 265 million monthly active users across 190 countries and is believed to have bumped its stock exchange float plans - expected to be in the US - from this year to 2027. Mr Obrecht and Ms Perkins rank fifth and sixth in The Australian’s Richest 250 list, with a combined net worth of $18.33b. Fellow co-founder Cameron Adams ranks 22nd with a personal wealth of $6.36b.