Canva Strikes Biggest Acquisition Yet in Chase to Take on Adobe
- Australian unicorn buys British team behind Affinity art suite
- Affinity offers alternative tools to Adobe’s flagship products
Founded about a decade ago, Canva has grown into the most capable competitor to Adobe, the longtime dominant provider of software for graphics professionals.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Canva Inc. acquired the Affinity suite of creative software popular with Mac users, securing its biggest acquisition to date in an effort to compete with Adobe Inc.
The deal, which is a mix of cash and stock, is valued at “several hundred million pounds,” Canva co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Cliff Obrecht said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday. It’s the biggest outlay yet by Australia’s most valuable startup, priced at $26 billion in its latest share sale, and marks a milestone in the expansion of its range of professional tools.