Canva alumni raise $4.15m for AI-powered cooking platform Clove

The news: AI-powered recipe platform Clove has raised $4.15 million in a seed funding round led by Blackbird Ventures, with support from Shakti Capital and executives from Canva and Google Maps.

The numbers: Clove's founding team is made up of ex-Canva pair Anna Guerrero and Sam Killin, who met while building the design unicorn's marketplace program, helping the company scale to more than 100 million users in 190 countries. Through Clove, Guerrero and Killin have ambitions to facilitate 1 billion recipes cooked around the world.

The context: Clove says it platform simplifies daily cooking decisions by allowing people to browse personalised recipes and simplify cooking workflows with artificial intelligence. Due to launch next year, Clove will be free for discovering recipes, with options to purchase cooking products and upgrade for premium recipes and AI-powered cooking tools, creating multiple earning opportunities for creators. The seed funding round will enable the company to accelerate its upcoming beta launch by continuing to grow its team.

What they said: Guerrero said: "Canva has proven time and time again that building an incredible user-centric product is a winning strategy. Democratizing stock content at Canva was a hugely rewarding experience, and I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity and learnings, many of which will make discovering and cooking amazing recipes just as seamless and enjoyable."