The company confirmed the deals on Wednesday but did not disclose how much it paid.

Both businesses were started by brothers Chris and Mike Sharkey, who earlier co-founded Stayz. They will now take up leadership roles inside Canva, working across its AI and marketing technology teams.

With the acquisition, Canva is working to bring more of a team’s daily work into one place, building tools that cover everything from early ideas to running and measuring campaigns.

Simtheory focuses on AI systems that can carry out tasks. Its platform allows companies to build assistants trained on their own data, connect them to tools like email or customer systems, and assign real work. Teams can also design workflows where these assistants handle repeated tasks.

Ortto works on the marketing side, combining customer data with tools that let companies run campaigns across email, SMS, push notifications and in-app messages.

Canva says the system is already used by more than 11,000 customers across 190 countries, with features that allow data to update and trigger actions in real time.

“Simtheory accelerates our evolution from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design and productivity tools at its core,” said Canva co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht.

“At the same time, Ortto strengthens our ability to power the entire marketing and content lifecycle through Canva Grow, from planning and creating to publishing and optimising across every channel.”

Canva Grow is the company’s product for content creation and performance tracking. These new additions will sit alongside it.

In recent months, Canva has steadily added new companies including Doohly, which focuses on digital outdoor advertising, just weeks ago.

Earlier, it acquired Cavalry, an animation startup, and MangoAI, which works on improving advert performance. In January last year, it also picked up marketing intelligence firm MagicBrief.

The latest deals with Simtheory and Ortto push Canva further into a space long held by larger enterprise software firms. It is building tools that combine design, data and automation, instead of relying on separate systems.

The company is expected to show how all of this fits together at its Canva Create event on April 16, where it has said it will unveil what it calls its biggest product update yet.

Canva closed 2025 with about $4 billion in annualised revenue. It reported more than 265 million users and 31 million paying customers, with monthly activity up by around 20% over the year.

The post Canva Expands AI and Marketing Tools with Simtheory, Ortto Acquisitions appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This is a sign that choosing the right tool is more important now than ever.

Email marketing isn’t dead. On the contrary, it’s one of the most effective channels for engagement and revenue, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Africa. 

With inbox clutter increasing and mobile adoption high, choosing the right platform can be the difference between campaigns that engage and ones that get ignored. 

Today, we break down Mailchimp and Brevo, two of the most used tools, in terms that are most relevant to growing African businesses; deliverability, automation, pricing, SMS/email combos, smart tools, and local payment realities.

Deliverability: Gets the Message In

Getting your emails into customers’ inboxes is the foundation of any email programme. If your messages land in promotions or spam folders, they might not be seen.

• Several comparative reports reveal that Mailchimp usually shows higher deliverability rates than many competitors in standard tests.
• Some older data also pointed to Brevo’s deliverability performance being very close or slightly ahead under certain conditions, though results vary by audience and setup.

What this tells me as a marketer is that both platforms are capable of strong deliverability, but how you configure your domain authentication, sender reputation, and list hygiene is usually more important than the platform itself. Test both with your own lists before committing, especially if inbox placement is mission-critical.

Automation Workflows: How Much You Can Do Without Help

Automation is a way to save time and send more relevant messages.

• Mailchimp has a mature automation suite with a strong visual workflow builder and customer journey tools. You can start simple for abandoned carts or re-engagement and scale to multi-step journeys. 
• Brevo also provides automation with branching triggers and tags, and it bundles email, SMS and even WhatsApp actions into the same sequences, a big plus if you want truly multi-channel campaigns without extra add-ons.

In utilising both, I find Mailchimp better when you want in-depth segmentation and data-driven flows. Brevo comes top for simplicity and multi-channel triggers without needing third-party tools.

Cost for Small Lists: What You Actually Pay

Budget is essential most for early-stage African SMEs.

• Mailchimp’s pricing scales with contacts. The more subscribers you have, the more you pay, even if you send a few emails.
• Brevo prices by email volume (not contacts), and offers unlimited contacts even on basic plans.

That difference is huge. If you have a large list but send monthly newsletters only, Brevo can be far more cost-efficient. On the other hand, if you send frequent campaigns with smaller lists, Mailchimp’s entry points can be competitive.

For many entrepreneurs I’ve seen, Brevo usually costs less as lists grow, while Mailchimp becomes expensive quickly.

SMS/Email Combos: Multi-Channel Outreach Built In

Africa’s mobile-first audience means SMS and WhatsApp matter.

• Brevo includes SMS and WhatsApp options in the platform and lets you weave them into automated workflows.
• Mailchimp doesn’t include unified SMS out of the box, you typically need integrations or third-party services.

If your strategy includes both SMS and email under one roof, Brevo saves time and money.

Smart Tools & Content Support

Creating email copy and creative can slow teams down.

Both Mailchimp and Brevo platforms provide built-in content tools, including templates and writing helpers. Mailchimp has extensive ready-made templates and advanced content editing features. Brevo has simpler editors but supports automation triggers directly tied into content blocks.

Neither is far ahead in everyday content help, so I’d make decisions based on workflow needs rather than creative features.

Local Situation: Payments & Support for African SMEs

A key, often overlooked, point:

• Platforms may charge in USD/EUR and expect credit card or PayPal billing.
• Neither currently offers native local payment billing options for African currencies.

The effect? SMEs face foreign exchange costs and billing friction. Plan budgets accordingly. On support, user reviews show Brevo’s ease of use and support ratings slightly higher among smaller teams, while Mailchimp’s extensive help library still impresses many users.

Which Should You Pick?

Here’s the takeaway, based on usage patterns:

Choose Brevo if you want:

• Low cost as your list grows.
• Email, SMS and WhatsApp in one dashboard.
• Solid automation without steep learning curves.
• Unlimited contacts without artificial price jumps.

Choose Mailchimp if you want:

• Deep automation and analytics.
• Huge ecosystem of integrations.
• Advanced reporting and campaign insights.
• Tried-and-tested deliverability with premium options.

Both Mailchimp and Brevo are solid choices. But for many African SMEs just starting or scaling, Brevo gives more value per dollar, especially when multichannel outreach matters.

Quick Comparison at a Glance

I recommend testing both with campaigns. Run a few weeks of identical sends, measure deliverability, opens and conversions, and then decide. 

Theory helps, but your list is the final judge.

The post Mailchimp vs Brevo: Which Email Tool is Best for Growing African SMEs? appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The acquisition follows Landbase’s $30 million Series A funding and is another step in its bid to dominate the go-to-market (GTM) technology space. 

Adauris is known for building intent signal systems that help B2B companies identify and convert high-intent leads through distributed content. Its tools have reached over 10 million impressions monthly and identified more than 45,000 potential prospects daily.

According to Landbase Chief Executive Daniel Saks, “We’re building the future of GTM: intelligent, connected, and deeply multimodal.” 

He described the integration as a key driver for the company’s “Vibe AI” vision, a software approach that allows users to express marketing goals in plain language, leaving execution to intelligent systems without the need for complex interfaces or manual processes.

With this deal, Landbase gains an experienced founding team:

• Logan Underwood, former Adauris CEO, will lead partnerships and oversee collaborations with agencies.
• Tina Haertel, former COO, will direct inbound marketing product development.
• Griffin Cook, former CTO, will head engineering for the inbound product line.

Former Adauris CEO, Underwood said, “We joined Landbase because it’s solving a critical market pain point: providing a unified approach to GTM, and combining inbound and outbound into single omni-channel campaigns. We saw the power of Landbase as a customer and a partner, and the impact is undeniable.”

The Adauris team has already contributed to Landbase’s first inbound-focused feature, a LinkedIn thought leadership posting tool. It allows GTM teams to publish signal-based content, track real-time buyer engagement, and strengthen market presence directly from the platform.

Haertel noted, “Everyone wants more visibility, but most teams don’t know what to say or who’s listening. This feature makes it easy to publish with purpose and connect content to demand, and it’s just the beginning of Landbase’s inbound roadmap.”

Landbase plans to expand its inbound offering with more publishing channels, deeper engagement analytics, and automated signal-based content creation, positioning itself as a central operating system for GTM.

The post Landbase Acquires Adauris to Bring Vibe AI to Inbound Marketing appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Trusted by thousands of SMB and enterprise brands including Shopify and eBay, the acquisition will enable Leadpages drive leads through conversion-optimized landing pages.

“Right now, AI is democratizing technology through point solutions, but that’s only compounding the long-standing challenge entrepreneurs and SMBs face in juggling multiple platforms to build a campaign,” said Michael Sacca, CEO of Leadpages. 

“With this acquisition, we’re providing all marketers the ability to design, build, and launch high-converting marketing campaigns from one unified platform.”

Glorify’s design tools are now integrated into the Leadpages platform, streamlining campaign creation by enabling users to design visuals, build landing pages, and launch campaigns faster within a single workflow. The move simplifies conversion-driven marketing and eliminates the need for multiple platforms, offering a no-code solution to attract, engage, and convert customers.

“Marketers invest heavily to attract customers across paid channels like social and search, but personalization often ends at the click,” said Omar Farook, CEO of Glorify. “With budgets under pressure, this merger brings together two performance marketing leaders to help brands of all sizes scale full-funnel experiences to drive revenue.”

The combined platforms serve more than 300,000 brands, agencies, and entrepreneurs, who can expect a seamless transition with expanded access to the full suite of tools for conversion-driven campaigns. The acquisition also sets the stage for future innovations, including AI-powered design automation and smart content suggestions.

Leadpages, and now Glorify, are part of the Redbrick portfolio, known for building, acquiring, and supporting innovative businesses. This marks Redbrick’s third acquisition of 2025, following its acquisitions of pioneering digital media company Quartz and programmatic newsletter platform Paved.

The post Leadpages Acquires Glorify to Streamline Conversion-Driven Campaigns for SMB, Enterprise Marketers appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.