This Startup Hopes To Take On Canva, Raising An $11.6M Series A For Its Design Platform

Even if Canva is estimated to be valued around $26 billion, it seems startups believe there is still plenty to be gained from this “easy-to-use design platform” market. Admittedly, most people still find professional Adobe programs to be difficult to use. Possibly as a result, the Berlin-based startup.

For its design platform, Kittl has now secured a €10.8 million ($11.6 million) Series A round, which it says will enable users to “quickly turn ideas into graphic goods.”

Left Lane Capital served as the round’s lead investor. Along with Europe’s Speedinvest, other participants included a number of angel investors, including Des Traynor, the co-founder of Intercom, Shaan Puri, the former CEO of Bebo, and executives from Calm, Amazon, and Instagram.

The New York-based VC firm Left Lane Capital is most recognized for its investments in companies including GoStudent, Wayflyer, and Masterworks, among others.

Nicolas Heymann and Tobias Saul co-founded Kittl, which provides browser-based graphic design tools for making logos, labels, postcards, and other things.

Heymann, co-founder and CEO of Kittl, said to me through email: “With Kittl, we remove the barrier of a steep learning curve and enable consumers to produce professional-grade designs quickly and effortlessly. Our features are made to simplify difficult design procedures and make them clickable and available. Our rivals either concentrate on simple tools that only offer a limited amount of creative freedom, or they require a lot of training and practice to become proficient at.

Originally known as Heritage Type when it was formed by Heymann and Tobias Saul in 2020, Kittl underwent a rebranding in October 2021 following the completion of a €1.6 million Seed round.

Heymann points out that they intend to “double down on existing A.I. and machine learning efforts” in light of the fact that a lot of these tools will likely be replaced by AI pretty soon.

Magnus Karnehm, Principal at Left Lane Capital, stated in a statement that Kittl’s user-friendly platform “democratizes the development of professional-grade graphic design.” Kittl’s laser focus on building a platform that covers ideation, creation, and ultimately revenue of graphic design has allowed it to rapidly expand its user base and user engagement.

This Startup Hopes To Take On Canva, Raising An $11.6M Series A For Its Design Platform

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