Canva Acquires Affinity to Challenge Adobe's Creative Dominance

Canva, the Australian creative design unicorn valued at $26 billion, has announced the acquisition of Affinity, a popular macOS and iOS photo editing app maker based in the UK. The deal, consisting of a mix of cash and stock, is valued at several million pounds, as revealed by Canva cofounder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht in an interview with Bloomberg.

"Today, we’re incredibly excited to welcome Affinity to the Canva team as we set our sights on empowering every kind of designer. Trusted by more than three million creative professionals across the globe, Affinity’s award-winning suite of professional design software has become a sought-after solution for everything from photo editing to complex graphic and vector design. Together, we’re setting our sights on empowering every kind of team and organization to achieve their goals," wrote Cliff Obrecht in an official blog post.

This strategic move marks Canva's expansion into the realm of professional creative tools, directly challenging Adobe's creative cloud suite, which includes iconic applications like Photoshop and Illustrator. Affinity's portfolio, comprising editing, illustration, and publishing software, has often been featured in Apple keynotes to showcase the capabilities of its latest hardware.

Affinity's team of 90 people, based in the UK, will be joining Canva, complementing the latter's AI-based online tools for creatives. The acquisition comes on the heels of Adobe's failed $20 billion acquisition of Figma, which faced resistance from regulators worldwide.

Canva, one of the tech unicorns poised for an initial public offering, has surpassed $2.1 billion in annualised revenue and added over 90 million users in the last 18 months. The company has been on an acquisition spree, having previously acquired Pexels, Pixabay, and Kaleido.ai. Overall, Canva has 175 million users world wide.

Following these acquisitions, Canva recently established a European headquarters in London, signalling its intent to capitalise on the region's growth potential. "It's a market that has such high potential and opportunity," Obrecht told Bloomberg. "We really want to double down on that organic growth," he added.

The acquisition of Affinity further cements Canva's position as a serious contender in the creative software industry, as it continues to expand its offerings and global presence.