Canva, the global visual communications platform, has today announced the acquisition of Flourish, a powerful and easy-to-use platform for data visualization. The acquisition comes as Canva marks the milestone of more than 75 million monthly active users, an increase of more than 30 million in the last 12 months as teams of every size seek out powerful, affordable and collaborative platforms to bolster visual communication.

“Data storytelling has emerged as an increasingly critical part of visual communication for teams across almost every industry,” explains Canva co-founder and CEO, Melanie Perkins. “Welcoming Flourish to Canva marks the latest step in our mission to empower the world to design. We’re incredibly excited to welcome their talented team as we work together to combine their world-leading data visualization technology with the Canva magic our community know and love.”

Since their inception, both Canva and Flourish have been driven by the shared mission of turning traditionally complex tools into simple and accessible solutions for anyone, anywhere; regardless of knowledge, income or experience. The acquisition of Flourish will further accelerate this mission as Canva doubles down on expanding its rapidly growing suite of visual communication tools for millions of people across the globe. 

Unlocking the power of data storytelling at scale

Founded in 2016 by Duncan Clark and Robin Houston, Flourish was created with the mission of empowering everyone to tell compelling and engaging stories with data. Today, their leading data visualization platform is used by more than 800,000 people around the world. Organizations ranging from the BBC and Sky to Deloitte and Moody’s, rely on Flourish’s platform to create engaging and digestible data visualizations that bring more eyes and understanding to their stories. More than 9.5 million visualizations have been created with Flourish, attracting over 20 billion views to date. 

As the volume of data being shared and communicated in today’s world continues to grow, the need for data storytelling is becoming increasingly universal across almost every team and industry. More than 500 million presentations and over 150 million infographics have been created with Canva as millions of people seek out simple, affordable and collaborative tools to communicate information and ideas in engaging, interactive and digestible ways. Over the coming months, Canva will integrate Flourish’s technology into its core platform, opening up exciting new possibilities for creative data storytelling at scale. 

“We’re beyond excited for this next step in Flourish’s journey,” said Duncan Clark, CEO and co-founder, Flourish. “By joining forces with Canva, we can bring the power of data storytelling to the world’s leading visual communication platform, embraced by millions of people across the globe. We can’t wait to help Canva’s vast community of users bring their data to life while continuing to support the thriving Flourish community.”

Canva eyes European expansion

The acquisition continues Canva’s foray into Europe, bolstering the company’s global footprint with European teams now spanning Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom. Flourish’s team of 44 will continue working from their office in London as Canva ramps up its expansion efforts across the region, with open roles spanning a variety of disciplines including Marketing, Talent Acquisition and Operations.