Canva’s push to embed artificial intelligence deeper into its design stack is translating into measurable business gains, with the company reporting over 40% revenue growth to $4 billion in annual recurring revenue, even as India has emerged as its second-largest market globally for AI usage, Danny Wu, head of AI at Canva, told Fe.

The Australian design platform last week unveiled Canva AI 2.0, which it described as its most significant product overhaul since inception in 2013. The update introduces a new architecture layer aimed at simplifying design creation through conversational prompts, automated editing and workflow integration.

The changes are intended to reduce manual intervention and allow users to generate, edit and refine designs through natural language inputs.

‘India is our second biggest market in terms of AI usage’

“India is our second-biggest market in terms of AI usage,” Wu said, adding that the country is also among its fastest-growing markets and ranks fourth overall. He said that user feedback from India has played a role in shaping product evolution.

Wu said the latest AI push builds on earlier machine learning capabilities but has been enabled by recent advances in generative AI. “We saw over 40% growth in revenue which honestly shocked me. And very significant portion of this is directly driven by AI and AI usage,” he said. He added that the company had been working on the current iteration for over 18 months, with the idea of a unified, AI-led design interface predating the generative AI boom.

The new release includes features such as agentic orchestration, which interprets user intent and deploys relevant tools automatically, alongside connectors that integrate third-party platforms like Gmail, Google Drive and Slack into the design workflow.

In-house foundational model

Canva has also introduced an in-house foundational model trained on its proprietary design data to enable editable, multi-layered outputs across formats such as presentations, social media and websites.

The developments come amid intensifying competition in the AI-driven design space, with new tools impacting valuations of incumbents. Wu acknowledged the disruption but said it was prompting adaptation. “It’s just forcing us to adapt and leverage the technology in a way that adds significant and unique value to users,” he said.

Canva has also pursued acquisitions, including Simtheory and Ortto, to strengthen its AI and collaboration capabilities, while deepening partnerships with firms such as Anthropic to integrate design tools with external AI platforms.