Leonardo.ai
Leonardo.Ai is a global artificial intelligence company that develops generative AI software for image and video creation. In 2024, Leonardo.Ai was acquired by Canva.
History
Leonardo.Ai was founded in December 2022 in Sydney by JJ Fiasson, Christopher Gillis, Jachin Bhasme, Peter Runham, Sami Ede, and Ethan Smith.Leonardo.Ai develops and maintains generative AI models and tools designed for creative workflows. In October 2023, the company raised A$47 million in Series A funding, with investors including Blackbird Ventures, Sierra Ventures, Smash Capital, TIRTA Ventures, Gaorong Capital, and Samsung Next.
In April 2024, it launched Leonardo for Teams, an enterprise solution for secure content production and collaboration, and in June introduced Phoenix, its first in-house foundational model. By the end of the year, the platform had more than 29 million users worldwide, according to Forbes Australia.
The company was included in the Forbes 2024 AI 50 list. In the same year, CEO JJ Fiasson received the Australian Financial Review's AI Trailblazer award and was recognized among Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs.
In August 2025, Lucid Origin, an advanced text-to-image model developed by Leonardo AI, was officially launched, offering full-HD output. In the same year, it was ranked #7 on the “Text-to-Image” leaderboard by Artificial Analysis.