Australia-based graphic design platform Canva has acquired Affinity, a UK-based creative software suite for professional photo editing, illustration, graphic design and page layout.
While both companies did not reveal the financial terms of the acquisition, Bloomberg reported that the deal was worth “several hundred million pounds”, with TechCrunch reporting a confirmed amount of approximately $380 million.
With the acquisition, Canva aims to build “the world’s most comprehensive suite of visual communication tools”. Claiming it has seen rapid growth among users who don’t have design training, with Affinity’s purchase, the company hopes to zoom in on the professional designers as well.
Affinity”s parent firm is Serif, which employs around 90 people and is based in Nottingham, UK. Affinity claims to have more than 3 million customers around the world.
“Visual communication is now ubiquitous in the workplace and investing in strategies that enhance our B2B offerings is core to the future of our business,” said Canva co-founder and chief operating officer, Cliff Obrecht.
“From sales and marketing, to brand and creative teams, the need to create effective and engaging visual content is on the rise. The Affinity team comes with an incredible caliber of talent and technology and we’re delighted to welcome them to Canva as we enter our next phase together.”
Canva was launched in 2013 and claims its platform is used by more than 175 million people across 190 countries and in more than 100 languages. The company has made several acquisitions in Europe of late, including Flourish (2022), Kaleido (2021), Smartmockups (2021), Pexels (2019) and Pixabay (2019). The company opened its first European headquarters in 2023, based in London.