Applications
Programmatic gets a new container lease on life with IAB’s tech reboot
MUMBAI: The pipes of programmatic plumbing are finally getting an upgrade and it’s all going into the container. In a bid to declutter the tangled maze of today’s digital ad infrastructure, the IAB Tech Lab has launched its Containerization Project, aiming to give the ad tech industry a fresh, streamlined foundation for real-time bidding (RTB). The move comes as the sector grapples with a decade’s worth of bolted-on innovations, latency headaches, and a spaghetti bowl of fragmented systems especially under pressure during high-volume events.
Rather than patching up the cracks, IAB Tech Lab wants to rebuild the pipes altogether.
“The digital ad ecosystem has grown enormously, but the technical foundation hasn’t kept up,” said IAB Tech Lab CEO Anthony Katsur. “The way ad tech is built today is complex and inefficient. This project isn’t about tweaks, it’s about designing a future-proof foundation from the ground up.”
At the heart of the project is the standardisation of container technology for OpenRTB. Think of it as an elegant Bento box for real-time bidding, modular, measurable, and ready to scale. The new framework introduces common standards for everything from network protocols and metrics to image performance and data privacy, offering supply-side platforms (SSPs), demand-side platforms (DSPs), and other players a shared architecture to innovate on without reinventing the wheel each time.
Crucially, it allows for plug-and-play functionality: ad tech partners can be added or swapped mid-auction without slowing things down or breaking core systems.
“This gives engineers a shared technical foundation to build from,” said Chalice AI head of product Meera Choudhury. “By establishing clarity on what’s required, we can build in a way that respects those boundaries.”
The IAB Tech Lab is actively rallying participation from across the ecosystem publishers, platforms, buyers, and technology vendors alike to co-develop the next-gen container framework.
So, while OpenRTB isn’t being scrapped, it’s getting a much-needed house remodel. And with standardised containers at the core, the programmatic future might just be cleaner, faster, and finally scalable with less duct tape.
Applications
Canva acquires animation and AI startups Cavalry and MangoAI
The deals strengthen Canva’s push into enterprise and AI-led design workflows
AUSTRALIA: Global visual communication platform Canva has stepped up its acquisition drive, buying UK-based 2D animation platform Cavalry and US-based AI startup MangoAI to deepen its AI-powered creative stack.
Cavalry, whose tools are used by brands including Amazon, Meta, Google and Netflix, will strengthen Canva’s motion design capabilities. The deal builds on Canva’s 2024 acquisition of Affinity, which has crossed four million downloads since launch. With Cavalry, Canva now counts seven Europe-based acquisitions, underscoring its global expansion strategy.
MangoAI, an early-stage startup focused on video advertising optimisation, will integrate its reinforcement learning systems into Canva AI. The move aims to enable brands to generate personalised marketing content in real time, cutting production cycles while improving campaign performance. MangoAI co-founder Vinith Misra will join Canva as reinforcement learning lead in its research lab.
Canva co-founder and chief operating officer Cliff Obrecht said the acquisitions reflect the company’s ambition to make professional-grade creative tools more accessible without sidelining human creativity. The goal, he said, is to bring everything from vector to motion design into a single, integrated suite.
The company now reports 265 million active users, including 31 million paid subscribers, and $4 billion in annualised revenue, up 36 per cent year on year. The latest buys further position Canva against rivals such as Adobe and Apple’s Creator Studio as it pushes deeper into enterprise workflows.
Canva head of pro design marketing Liam Fisher, said AI is intended to act as a creative assistant rather than a replacement, reinforcing the primacy of craft and individual design judgement.
