Canva has acquired Simtheory and Ortto in a dual agreement.

      Both firms were established by brothers Chris and Mike Sharkey, who previously co-founded the Australian vacation rental platform Stayz. Financial details regarding the acquisitions were not revealed. Canva will showcase what it describes as the most significant transformation in its history at Canva Create on April 16.

      Canva has simultaneously acquired two companies: Simtheory, which is an agentic AI collaboration platform, and Ortto, a company specializing in customer data and marketing automation. The Sharkey brothers will join Canva in leadership positions within its AI and marketing technology teams. Financial terms of the agreements remain undisclosed.

      The Sharkeys are experienced entrepreneurs. Prior to creating Ortto and Simtheory, they co-founded Stayz, which became Australia’s largest platform for holiday accommodation bookings. Stayz was sold to Fairfax Digital in 2006 and then to HomeAway for $225 million in 2013.

      Ortto has a longer history: it originated as Autopilot, a marketing automation firm the brothers started in 2015, which was rebuilt after 2018 and rebranded as Ortto in March 2022.

      Simtheory evolved from an AI podcast initiated by the Sharkeys in 2023, which aimed to examine new AI models and capabilities; the tools they developed for the podcast transformed into a multi-model AI workspace for teams.

      The two acquisitions each cater to different aspects of Canva’s platform strategy. Simtheory provides agentic AI infrastructure, enabling teams to create AI assistants that comprehend their business context, manage tasks and applications, and execute work with the reliability and traceability needed by enterprises.

      Cliff Obrecht, Canva’s co-founder and COO, stated exclusively for TNW that “In a world where generating ideas is easier than ever, the challenge has shifted to turning those ideas into actionable, usable work. We’re thrilled to welcome Simtheory to Canva as we transition from being a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform supporting design and productivity tools. They’ve developed remarkable agentic technology, which we’re eager to share with the quarter of a billion individuals using Canva every month.”

      Ortto addresses the marketing lifecycle aspect of Canva’s objectives. The platform merges a customer data system with multi-channel marketing automation, allowing teams to create and manage customer journeys across email, SMS, push notifications, in-app messaging, forms, and surveys via a unified system.

      It employs an event-driven architecture along with no-code integrations to link and activate customer data in real-time. The company serves over 11,000 customers across 190 countries. This acquisition enhances Canva Grow, Canva’s marketing solution, following earlier acquisitions aimed at expanding in that direction: MagicBrief, bought in January 2025; MangoAI, acquired in February 2026 for AI-powered video ad optimization; and Doohly, acquired in March 2026 for digital out-of-home advertising.

      Founded in 2013 and based in Sydney, Canva is utilized by over 265 million people monthly and closed 2025 with more than $4 billion in annualized revenue.

      Mike Sharkey, CEO of both Ortto and Simtheory, emphasized the appeal of Canva’s extensive user base: “The prospect of introducing our technology to the quarter of a billion people using Canva monthly and assisting more individuals in leveraging AI in their daily work is incredibly exciting for us.”