Canva Acquires Cavalry and MangoAI to Supercharge Motion Graphics and AI Video Ads

Canva has announced the acquisition of two startups — motion graphics application maker Cavalry and AI-powered video advertising company MangoAI — as the Australian design giant deepens its push into professional creative tools and AI-driven marketing.

Key Highlights

Cavalry brings professional-grade 2D animation capabilities, positioning itself as an alternative to Adobe After Effects
MangoAI adds AI-powered short video creation for advertising, with built-in performance tracking and optimization
Former Netflix VP of Data Science Nirmal Govind joins as Canva's first Chief Algorithms Officer
Canva ended 2025 with over $4 billion in annualized revenue, up 36% year-over-year

Cavalry: Professional Motion Graphics for Everyone

Cavalry is a four-person startup that has gained a following among designers as a modern alternative to Adobe After Effects for 2D animation work. The tool allows creators to build complex motion graphics with a node-based workflow that appeals to both beginners and professionals.

Canva plans to continue operating Cavalry as a standalone product while integrating its animation technology into both the core Canva platform and the Affinity suite of professional design applications, which Canva acquired in 2024.

MangoAI: AI-Powered Video Advertising

MangoAI, which had been operating in stealth mode, brings technology capable of generating short-form video ads and — critically — tracking their performance and making optimization recommendations. This positions Canva to offer a complete marketing loop: create, publish, measure, and iterate.

The addition of MangoAI strengthens Canva's growing suite of content marketing products and signals the company's ambition to become a one-stop platform for marketing teams.

First Chief Algorithms Officer

Perhaps the most telling move is the appointment of Nirmal Govind, MangoAI's leader and former Netflix VP of Data Science, as Canva's inaugural Chief Algorithms Officer. The new C-suite role underscores how central machine learning and AI have become to Canva's product strategy.

Closing the Gap With Adobe

With over $4 billion in annualized revenue and a 36% growth rate, Canva is aggressively expanding beyond its roots as a simple drag-and-drop design tool. The dual acquisition signals a clear strategy: combine professional-grade creative tools (Cavalry, Affinity) with AI-powered automation (MangoAI) to challenge Adobe's dominance across design, animation, and marketing workflows.

Financial terms of neither deal were disclosed.

What's Next

Canva is expected to integrate Cavalry's animation engine and MangoAI's video generation capabilities into its platform in the coming months. For the millions of marketers and designers already using Canva, this means access to motion graphics and AI video tools without leaving the ecosystem.

Source: CNBC