Leonardo.Ai is a generative AI content creation platform now part of Canva, used by millions of creators for game assets, marketing imagery, illustrations, and short-form video. The company was founded in Sydney in 2022 by JJ Fiasson (CEO), Jachin Bhasme, Chris Gillis, Peter Runham, and others, and quickly became one of the most popular image generation tools outside the major US labs.
In July 2024, Canva acquired Leonardo.Ai for an undisclosed mix of cash and stock, widely reported at around $200M. All of Leonardo.Ai's 120 employees, including the executive team, joined Canva, while the platform itself continues to run independently of Canva's main product with a focus on research and rapid innovation. Leonardo's Phoenix foundation model and broader tech stack are also being integrated into Canva's Magic Studio products, including Magic Media.
The Leonardo platform offers text-to-image, image-to-image, inpainting, real-time canvas, motion video, 3D texture generation, and a library of fine-tuned models for styles like anime, photorealism, illustration, RPG art, and product imagery. Its Phoenix model emphasises prompt adherence and creative control, and the platform supports features like Elements (style and concept controls), Image Guidance for compositional references, and a marketplace of community-trained models.
Leonardo monetizes through a freemium model with daily token allowances on the free tier and paid plans (Apprentice, Artisan, Maestro) that unlock more generations, faster queues, and commercial usage rights. With Canva's distribution and Phoenix-based models integrated into Magic Studio, Leonardo sits at the intersection of dedicated creative AI tooling and the world's most-used design platform, competing with Midjourney, Ideogram, Adobe Firefly, and Recraft.