Canva snaps up UK data startup Flourish

Australian design giant Canva has acquired UK data visualisation platform Flourish as it looks to ramp up its European growth plans.

The cost of the deal was not disclosed.

London-based Flourish has more than 800,000 users creating data stories ranging from Covid vaccination to climate change. More than 9.5 million visualisations have been created, generating more than 20 billion total views. The five-year-old company’s client base ranges from US president Joe Biden’s team during his campaign to the BBC, Deloitte and Moody’s.

In a blog post welcoming Flourish to Canva, co-founder CEO, Melanie Perkins said it’s an incredible product that brings simplicity to solving a complex problem around explaining data. 

“Data storytelling has emerged as an increasingly critical part of visual communication for teams across almost every industry,” she said.

“We’re incredibly excited to welcome their talented team as we work together to combine their world-leading data visualisation technology with the Canva magic our community know and love.”

Duncan Clark and Robin Houston founded Flourish in 2016 with the mission of empowering everyone to tell compelling and engaging stories with data.

“We’re beyond excited for this next step in Flourish’s journey,” Clark, the company’s CEO, said.

“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.”

Flourish’s team of 44 will continue working from their office in London.

The acquisition comes as Canva approaches its 10th year in business, and hits more than 75 million monthly active users, an increase of more than 30 million in the last 12 months.

The $54 billion business is bolstering its European footprint with teams in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Flourish’s data visualisation platform