Online graphic design platform Canva announced on Tuesday that it had acquired Affinity, a maker of creative software for professionals. The acquisition adds more advanced tools to Canva’s existing offerings and positions it to compete more directly with industry leader Adobe.
While financial terms were not disclosed, Cliff Obrecht, Canva’s co-founder and COO, told Bloomberg the deal was worth “several hundred million pounds” in cash and stock. This makes it Canva’s largest acquisition to date by both price and headcount, adding 90 Affinity employees. Affinity CEO Ashley Hewson said in a YouTube video that Canva approached them about a potential deal two months ago.
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Before the acquisition, Canva claimed 175 million users, 90 million of whom joined since launching its Visual Suite in September 2022. However, Canva lacked tools that specifically appealed to business customers. Affinity’s creative suite, which includes a photo editor, page layout software, and vector graphics program used by “thousands” of professionals, helps fill this gap.
While much smaller than Adobe, Affinity reports that 3 million creative professionals use its software. In 2017, Adobe was estimated to have 12 million Creative Cloud subscribers and now claims 50 million members on design platform Behance. Affinity has earned a following among those seeking an alternative to Adobe’s subscription model.
Canva committed to continuing Affinity’s perpetual licensing model, allowing users to purchase software outright instead of paying recurring fees. “Perpetual licenses will always be offered, and we will always price Affinity fairly and affordably,” the companies said. If subscriptions are introduced, perpetual options would remain available.
Canva plans to accelerate development of new Affinity features like variable fonts and multi-page layouts. With Canva’s resources, Affinity will have more support for improvements. However, Affinity’s stance against generative AI may clash with Canva’s embrace of the emerging technology.
For now, the companies say Affinity will remain standalone. But Obrecht told the Sydney Morning Herald that “lightweight integration” is planned, with the products eventually working together. The deal helps fill Canva’s need for business tools while challenging Adobe’s creative dominance. It positions Canva to empower designers “at every level and stage,” according to Obrecht.
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