TechCrunch Startup News Canva acquires startups working on animation and marketing; plus, Stripe, PayPal Ventures bet on India’s Xflow
Feb 25, 2026
Canva expands into motion and video tools with acquisitions focused on 2D motion editing and AI-driven ad performance. Funding news spotlights a $16.6M raise for Xflow, backed by major payments players. Discussion covers cross-border B2B payments, FX tools, API infrastructure, and plans for scaling and licenses.
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Canva Adds Motion Editing To Professional Suite
- Canva is closing its motion editing gap by adding Cavalry's 2D animation tools to Affinity and making a full professional suite spanning photo, vector, layout and motion.
- Canva has already made Affinity free, seen 5 million downloads, and intends to add video creation to Canva Grow to scale marketing asset production.
Canva Buys AI To Improve Ad Performance
- Mango AI's reinforcement learning for video ad performance will feed into Canva's marketing stack to improve campaign outcomes and measurement.
- Founders Nirmal Govind and Vinith Misra join Canva, with Govind becoming chief algorithms officer to boost ad performance and measurement capabilities.
Canva Grow Early Wins With Big Brands
- Cliff Obrecht said Canva Grow is doing very well for static content and has a loyal, small user base with big brands spending money.
- He noted video creation and multi-platform deployment are coming soon as Canva scales Canva Grow's capabilities.