Canva has acquired generative AI company Leonardo to expand and enhance its visual AI technology.

Since Canva was founded in 2013, the company has had 190 million users worldwide. The acquisition of Leonardo.Ai, a specialist in generative AI, is in line with Canva’s mission to develop technology for design AI. Leonardo.Ai has a team of 120 researchers, engineers and designers and has a strong foundation in AI models.

Leonardo’s technology will be integrated into Canva’s existing Magic Studio products, including AI graphics and video generator Magic Media. Leonardo’s track record in AI-generated photos, graphics and videos will contribute to Canva’s mission to lead the design and visual AI ecosystems.

“Leonardo will continue to operate independently from Canva and focus on rapid innovation, research and development, now supported by Canva’s resources,” Adams told TechCrunch. “We will continue to offer all existing Leonardo tools and solutions.”

“This acquisition is designed to help Leonardo further develop its platform and deepen its user growth through our investment, including by expanding its API business and investing in fundamental model research and development.”

Applications of AI in visual communication

“We will look to integrate Leonardo’s technology into Magic Studio, which we are very excited about,” says Adams. “This could mean making existing Magic Studio tools more powerful or introducing new generative AI features based on Leonardo’s models directly into Canva.”

“It’s early days and we’ll figure out what that looks like right away, but we’re excited to expand what our users can do with AI on Canva.”

Canva’s Visual Economy Report shows that demand for effective visual communication has increased significantly. AI is playing an increasingly important role in increasing productivity and creativity in the workplace. Marketing teams can use generative AI to scale global campaigns by instantly generating ad creatives tailored to specific audiences. Designers can create initial visual drafts, allowing them to immediately focus on refinement and perfection.

Earlier this month, Canva launched a six-month free trial of the Affinity suite. It hopes to shake up Adobe by offering an alternative that doesn’t require monthly payments. Affinity has been owned by Canva since the end of March.