Canva acquires Cavalry & MangoAI

Canva announced the dual acquisition of Cavalry, a UK-based 2D animation and motion design platform, and MangoAI, a San Francisco-based startup specializing in AI-driven video ad optimization.

These acquisitions represent Canva’s fourth and fifth strategic buys in the last two years, following its high-profile purchase of the Affinity suite in 2024. The move is designed to transform Canva from a simple design tool into a “Full-Stack Creative OS” for professional designers and marketing teams.

Cavalry: Professional Motion Design

Cavalry is a procedural, performance-first 2D animation tool favored by designers at companies like Google, Netflix, and Amazon. Its integration marks Canva’s serious entry into the motion graphics space.

• Affinity Integration: Canva plans to integrate Cavalry’s tools into the Affinity suite. This will bridge the gap between photo, vector, and layout editing, adding a dedicated “Motion” pillar to the professional ecosystem.
• Pricing Commitment: Canva has assured users that everything currently free in Cavalry will remain free. They aim to make professional-grade motion design more accessible, challenging the “bloated” and expensive workflows of competitors like Adobe After Effects.
• Leadership: Cavalry founders Chris Hardcastle, Ian Waters, and Adam Jenns have joined Canva to lead the motion design roadmap.

MangoAI: Performance-Led Marketing

MangoAI is a stealth-mode startup that uses reinforcement learning and proprietary algorithms to optimize video advertising.

• Closed-Loop Learning: The technology uses “reward signals” from ad platforms to automatically refine video creative, improving performance while reducing the time and cost associated with A/B testing.
• Supercharging “Canva Grow”: MangoAI will be integrated into Canva Grow, the company’s marketing intelligence suite (launched following the acquisition of MagicBrief in 2025).
• New “Chief Algorithms Officer”: MangoAI co-founder Nirmal Govind (former VP of Data Science at Netflix) has joined Canva in the newly created role of Chief Algorithms Officer. He will oversee personalization and algorithmic systems across the entire platform.

Canva’s 2026 Financial Snapshot

The acquisitions come as Canva reports explosive growth and prepares for a potential U.S. initial public offering (IPO).

The “Creative OS” Vision

By combining Affinity (Static/Vector), Cavalry (Motion), and MangoAI (Algorithmic Optimisation), Canva is building an end-to-end pipeline where a professional can craft an asset in a precision tool, collaborate on it in the Canva cloud, and then optimize its performance using real-world data.