Canva is expanding its AI-driven toolkit by acquiring Cavalry, a UK-based 2D animation studio, and MangoAI, a US video-advertising optimization startup, to strengthen tools for professional designers and marketing teams.

Nirmal Govind will become Canva’s first Chief Algorithms Officer, signaling a push toward deeper algorithmic optimization and performance intelligence across the platform.

MangoAI co-founder Vinith Misra will join Canva as Reinforcement Learning Lead in the Research Lab to drive the integration of MangoAI’s reinforcement learning system.

The strategic goal is to build a vertically integrated creative ecosystem for professionals, marketers, and enterprise clients by uniting design, motion design, AI-driven optimization, and marketing analytics.

Sharma, based in Mumbai, will lead expansion of Canva’s local partner network, enterprise and government engagements, and scaling BIM adoption in infrastructure and real estate projects, leveraging three decades of software experience in India and the SAARC region.

Adobe announced a major education initiative in India to provide Firefly, Photoshop, and Acrobat free to thousands of schools and colleges, supporting government Create in India goals and AVGC sector job targets by 2030.

Affinity’s momentum reflects Canva’s broader aim to reduce tool fragmentation by offering a unified design-to-motion-to-marketing ecosystem.

The market is competitive with Adobe, Blender, DaVinci Resolve, and AI tools; Canva’s proposition is to reduce friction between disparate tools while maintaining an integrated ecosystem.

Govind has a background in senior tech roles at Lightning Bolt Solutions and engineering/optimization positions at Intel and IBM, with a PhD from Penn State in industrial engineering and operations research.

Looking ahead, Canva anticipates churn in video creation and a need for granular advertising metrics, with the integrated toolset potentially expanding enterprise reach by the end of 2026.

A note briefly mentions a Spotify feature about mood-based playlists, but it is not tied to Canva’s business strategy.

The rollout is expected to begin with Canva Grow customers to demonstrate ROI from integrated creation and measurement, potentially expanding Canva into a full end-to-end marketing suite.