A few yr and a half after Adobe’s tried $20 billion acquisition of design software program unicorn Figma collapsed, Figma has taken a step in direction of a brand new future within the public markets.
On Tuesday, when the corporate filed paperwork to go public on the New York Inventory Trade, in a prospectus larded with greater than 200 references to AI, Figma set the stage for one of the crucial anticipated IPOs of 2025.
The San Francisco-based firm, which is able to commerce below the ticker “FIG”, didn’t present particulars of how a lot it expects to lift within the providing or the valuation it’s searching for. However its S-1 submitting comes at a second when the marketplace for venture-backed IPOs seems to be higher than it has in a while, from the meteoric debuts of AI infrastructure firm CoreWeave (up 290% from its IPO value) to the blowout triumph of stablecoin agency Circle (up 519%).
As Figma strikes to capitalize on the bullish situations for brand spanking new issuers, a key query for its enterprise buyers and workers is whether or not it may well high the $20 billion valuation that Adobe was ready to pay for it earlier than the deal fell via because of intractable regulatory resistance, significantly within the U.Okay. A young provide that Figma organized final yr for workers to money out some shares, valued the corporate at $12.5 billion.
And as buyers chomp on the bit for alternatives to trip the AI wave, Figma should make the case that it may well harness the ability of generative AI to faucet into new progress with out itself changing into a sufferer of AI.
“We’re already investing closely in AI and we plan to double down much more on this space,” CEO and cofounder Dylan Area wrote in a “letter to buyers” included within the prospectus. “AI spend will probably be a drag on our effectivity for a number of years, however AI can be core to how design workflows will evolve going ahead.”
To guage by its S-1 submitting, the design firm’s enterprise is rising robustly. In Q1 2025, Figma’s income elevated 46% to $228.2 million from $156.2 million in Q1 2024, based on the submitting. Likewise, in Q1 2025, Figma’s web revenue hit $44.8 million, a pointy improve from $13.5 million in Q1 final yr. In 2024, Figma clocked web lack of greater than $700 million, an anomalous byproduct of the Adobe deal’s fallout.
The submitting additionally revealed that Figma has 1,031 clients who put up greater than $100,000 to the corporate’s annual recurring income, plus 11,107 clients who add greater than $10,000 to Figma’s total income. In 2024, Figma’s whole income got here in at $749 million, up year-over-year by 48%, the prospectus reveals.
Figma was based in 2012 by Dylan Area and Evan Wallace, who met as college students at Brown College. And the corporate is about as venture-backed because it will get, with lots of Silicon Valley’s largest VC names within the combine from its early days: Index Ventures led Figma’s $3.8 million seed spherical in 2013, Greylock led the corporate’s 2015 Collection A, Kleiner Perkins led the 2018 Collection B, Sequoia the 2019 Collection C, and Andreessen Horowitz the 2020 Collection D.
Trying forward, Figma’s plans to develop embody rising its buyer base and increasing its worldwide footprint—greater than half of the corporate’s income already comes from exterior the U.S., the submitting states. Acquisitions may even be key to Figma’s near-term future, Area wrote, telling potential buyers to “anticipate us to take large swings once we see an opportunity to spend money on our platforms or pursue M&A at scale.” The corporate’s CVC arm, Figma Ventures, and its 18 investments thus far additionally get a shoutout within the submitting.
Additionally in true Silicon Valley kind and as is commonly the case for founder-led firms, Area will retain majority management of the corporate after the IPO, due to a particular class of tremendous voting shares, based on the S-1. Area at the moment has 75.3% voting energy, together with shares owned by cofounder Evan Wallace entrusted to him, although the submitting didn’t specify what Area’s precise stake can be after the providing .
Within the prospectus, Area defined his rationale for going public at a time when “many superb firms” are staying personal for longer, citing liquidity, model consciousness, and the worth of capital markets entry. He added: “Extra importantly, I like the concept of our neighborhood sharing within the possession of Figma—and the easiest way to do this is thru the general public markets.”
