Leonardo AI
Acquired2 known investors
A generative content platform for rapidly producing high-quality visual assets.
Also known as Leonardo AI · Leonardo.Ai · Leonardo.AI
Investors · 2
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Leonardo.Ai is an Australian generative artificial intelligence company that builds software for image and video creation. Its platform lets users produce images, illustrations and photorealistic visuals from text prompts, and includes tools such as Realtime/Live Canvas, which converts sketches and brushstrokes into AI-rendered images in real time as the user draws, and Motion, which animates static images into short video clips. Users can also train custom models on their own datasets to obtain consistent stylistic outputs, an approach the founders positioned against more opaque general-purpose models.
The company was founded in December 2022 in Sydney, New South Wales, by JJ Fiasson (CEO), Christopher Gillis, Jachin Bhasme, Peter Runham, Sami Ede and Ethan Smith. It expanded from a web tool into a multi-platform product including an iOS app, and added an enterprise tier, Leonardo for Teams, in April 2024. In June 2024 it shipped Phoenix, its first in-house foundational model, described as Australia's first major generative AI foundation model, and in August 2025 launched Lucid Origin, a text-to-image model with full-HD output. The platform also incorporates third-party models, including Google's Veo 3 for video generation.
Leonardo.Ai was acquired by Canva in 2024 and now operates as part of that company, with its models integrated into Canva's design products while the Leonardo platform continues to be offered to its own user community.
Founding story
Leonardo.Ai was incorporated in December 2022 in Sydney by a founding team drawn from game development and software engineering backgrounds, comprising JJ Fiasson (CEO), Christopher Gillis, Jachin Bhasme, Peter Runham, Sami Ede and Ethan Smith. Fiasson, an Australian with degrees from the University of Sydney in philosophy and immunology and a later master's in international security and international business, had previously founded a cloud business technology firm acquired by ASX-listed Spirit Telecom in 2020 and co-founded a Sydney fintech mortgage business acquired in 2021. The company's name references Leonardo da Vinci and the founders' stated interest in the intersection of technology and creativity. The founding thesis was to reduce the cost and time required for studios and artists to produce consistent, high-quality visual assets by letting users train models on specific art styles.
Business model
Leonardo.Ai operates a self-serve, freemium software platform for generative visual content. Users access image and video generation tools through the web and a mobile app, with a credit-based system: a set allocation of free daily credits for casual users and paid subscription tiers unlocking advanced features, higher-resolution output and greater volume. A separate enterprise tier, Leonardo for Teams, was introduced in April 2024 for businesses requiring secure content production and collaboration. Since the Canva acquisition, Leonardo continues as a standalone product while its technology is also embedded into Canva's design platform.
Revenue comes from a credit-based freemium model: free daily credits with resolution limits, paid consumer and professional subscription tiers that unlock advanced styles and features, and a paid enterprise product (Leonardo for Teams). An affiliate program provides an additional acquisition channel.
Traction
The platform reported 12 million users as of April 2024 and more than 29 million users worldwide by the end of 2024. Headcount grew from about 102 employees in April 2024 to more than 200 in 2024, with roughly 150 Leonardo staff based in North Sydney as of early 2026.
Latest developments
In August 2025 Leonardo launched Lucid Origin, a text-to-image model producing full-HD output, and was ranked seventh on Artificial Analysis's text-to-image leaderboard that year. In early 2026 Canva said it was accelerating the integration of Leonardo into its broader AI product and research teams, moving Leonardo staff into Canva teams while keeping a dedicated team on Leonardo as a standalone product; Canva publicly denied reports that the restructure involved redundancies among Leonardo's roughly 150 North Sydney employees.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Leonardo.Ai is one of the more widely used consumer and professional generative image platforms, reporting growth from 12 million users in April 2024 to more than 29 million by the end of that year. It was named to the Forbes 2024 AI 50 list, and its CEO received the Australian Financial Review's AI Trailblazer award in 2024. In 2025 the company's model ranked seventh on Artificial Analysis's text-to-image leaderboard. It competes with tools including Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Adobe Firefly and Ideogram.
The company's positioning centres on giving users control over model behaviour rather than offering prompt-only generation: custom model training on user-supplied datasets for style consistency, real-time sketch-to-image editing via Live/Realtime Canvas, and image-to-video conversion through Motion. It also developed its own foundation models (Phoenix, Lucid Origin) rather than relying solely on third-party models, while incorporating external models such as Google's Veo 3 where useful.
Technology
The platform is built on generative diffusion-based models for image synthesis, including in-house foundation models: Phoenix (June 2024), described as Australia's first major generative AI foundation model, and Lucid Origin (August 2025), a text-to-image model producing full-HD output. Product-level capabilities include Realtime/Live Canvas for real-time sketch interpretation, Motion for image-to-video animation, and support for training custom models on user-specific datasets. The platform also integrates third-party models such as Google's Veo 3 for video generation.
Go-to-market
Initial distribution came through a community-led rollout, including a Discord-gated early access program that built a large waitlist ahead of public availability, followed by freemium self-serve sign-up on the web and via an iOS app listed on the App Store. The company later added an enterprise motion with Leonardo for Teams, and an affiliate program. Post-acquisition, distribution is also extended through Canva's design platform.
Individual creators, digital artists and hobbyists, alongside professional users in game development, film storyboarding, advertising, marketing and e-commerce, plus business and enterprise teams using the Teams product.
Geography
Headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, with staff based in North Sydney following the Canva acquisition. The platform serves users worldwide.
History
Leonardo.Ai was founded in December 2022 in Sydney and launched its platform to the public in the same period. It raised a US$31 million (A$47 million) Series A in December 2023, led by Blackbird Ventures, and used the capital to expand its engineering and research teams. In April 2024 it released Leonardo for Teams for enterprise customers, and in June 2024 launched Phoenix, its first in-house foundational model. In July 2024 the company was acquired by Canva, in a deal later reported as worth more than US$300 million. It continued shipping products post-acquisition, including Flow State in early 2025 and the Lucid Origin text-to-image model in August 2025. In early 2026 Canva said it was accelerating the integration of Leonardo's teams into its wider AI product and research organisation while maintaining Leonardo as a standalone product.
Risks & controversies
The company drew criticism in 2024 after users were able to generate nonconsensual deepfake pornography with its software in violation of its terms of service. It has also faced scrutiny over the provenance of training data. In early 2026, reporting about Canva's restructuring of the Leonardo team prompted concerns about job losses, which Canva publicly denied.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 9
launches, deals, and filingsCanva said it was accelerating integration of Leonardo into its AI product and research teams, with a small team continuing Leonardo as a standalone product. Canva denied reports of redundancies among Leonardo's roughly 150 North Sydney staff.
Feature enabling very high-speed image generation output and a new interaction model for image generation, released in early 2025 after the Canva acquisition.
Canva acquired Leonardo.Ai; a later report put the deal at more than US$300 million (at least $320 million reported).
Leonardo's first in-house foundational model, described as Australia's first generative AI foundation model.
Enterprise offering for secure content production and collaboration.
Fiasson was also recognised among Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs.
The company announced a Series A raise of US$31 million (A$47 million), taken in two tranches, led by Blackbird Ventures.
$31M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Leonardo.ai - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Leonardo AI do?
- Sydney-based generative AI platform for image and video creation, acquired by Canva in 2024.
- Who are Leonardo AI's investors?
- Leonardo AI's investors include Blackbird Ventures, TIRTA Ventures.