Figma, the cloud-based collaborative design platform, has officially filed for its initial public offering (IPO), marking a significant milestone for the company and the broader software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry. The company plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "FIG," with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Allen & Co., and J.P. Morgan leading the underwriting efforts. This move comes more than a year after Figma's $20 billion acquisition deal with Adobe was blocked by antitrust regulators in the U.K. and Europe, a decision that ultimately freed Figma to chart an independent course in the competitive tech landscape.
Founded in 2012 by CEO Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, Figma has evolved from a niche design tool into a robust platform catering to over 4 million users globally, including major clients such as Google, Spotify, Duolingo, Netflix, and Stripe. Notably, two-thirds of its customers are non-designers, reflecting the company's strategic pivot toward broader enterprise adoption. This shift is exemplified by innovative products like Figma Make, an AI-powered prompt-to-code tool, and Figma Sites, a no-code website creation platform launched in March 2025, which help expand its reach beyond traditional design teams.
Financially, Figma has demonstrated impressive growth and resilience. As of the first quarter of 2025, the company reported revenue of $228.2 million, a 46% increase from $156.2 million in the same period the previous year. Net income also surged to $44.9 million, tripling from $13.5 million in Q1 2024. This strong performance contrasts with the $732 million net loss reported in 2024, which was largely attributed to a one-time charge related to a stock tender offer in May 2024. The prior year, 2023, saw a net income of $738 million, bolstered by a $1 billion termination fee paid by Adobe after the failed acquisition attempt.
Figma's annual recurring revenue (ARR) stood at $600 million in 2024, growing at a healthy 35% year-over-year. Its private valuation reached $17.84 billion as of April 2025, with a valuation-to-ARR multiple of around 29x, positioning it below peers like Adobe and Asana, which have multiples of 40x and 35x respectively. This valuation suggests a cautious but optimistic investor sentiment, especially amid a tepid IPO market influenced by tariff uncertainties and broader tech sector skepticism.
One of Figma's standout achievements is its attainment of FedRAMP Moderate certification in 2025, a credential that opens doors to lucrative government contracts often inaccessible to startups. This certification underscores the company's ambition to become the "operating system for digital product teams," integrating design, development, and marketing workflows into a single platform. Its gross margins currently hover around 80%, reflecting strong operational efficiency and scalability.
Despite its strengths, Figma faces stiff competition. Adobe continues to challenge its market share with Adobe Experience Cloud, while Canva aggressively targets enterprise customers from a consumer-focused base. Additionally, open-source alternatives to Figma pose a potential threat to its market dominance. However, Figma's focus on AI-driven products and enterprise solutions helps differentiate it, targeting teams rather than individual consumers.
Interestingly, unlike some tech peers, Figma has taken a conservative financial approach by prioritizing liquidity and cash reserves over speculative investments in cryptocurrencies. While the company authorized a $55 million investment into a Bitwise Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in 2024 and held $69.5 million in Bitcoin as of March 31, 2025, it also invested $30 million in USD Coin, a stablecoin, reflecting a balanced risk posture aligned with its cash-flow-positive status.
Figma's shareholder base is anchored by prominent venture capital firms such as Index Ventures (16.8%), Greylock (15.7%), Kleiner Perkins (14%), and Sequoia Capital (8.7%). CEO Dylan Field remains the largest individual owner, holding 56.6 million Class B shares and controlling 51.1% of voting power. Field, a Thiel Fellowship recipient, has expressed a clear vision for Figma's public market debut, emphasizing the benefits of corporate transparency, liquidity, stronger currency, and community ownership.
The IPO is also a significant event for Silicon Valley venture capital, which has faced a prolonged slump. Figma's public listing is expected to be among the most high-profile in 2025, signaling renewed investor appetite for tech IPOs following a dry spell triggered by inflation, rising interest rates, and geopolitical uncertainties. Other notable recent tech IPOs include Circle, which has surged to a market cap of nearly $43 billion, and online bank Chime, both debuting in mid-2025.
Figma's growth strategy includes strategic acquisitions to bolster its platform capabilities. In April 2025, it acquired an unnamed company with content management system software for $35.5 million and another technology firm's assets and team for $14 million. The design software startup Modyfi joined Figma in April, followed by Payload, a content-management software startup backed by Google and MongoDB, in June 2025. Field has indicated a willingness to "take big swings" in investing in the platform and pursuing mergers and acquisitions, acknowledging that some decisions may not seem immediately rational but are aimed at long-term growth.
As the IPO approaches, investors are advised to monitor key metrics such as revenue retention, gross margins, and product adoption rates outside traditional design markets to assess the company's expansion thesis. While risks remain—particularly around competitive pressures and potential contraction of SaaS valuation multiples—Figma's financial discipline, innovation, and strategic positioning provide a compelling investment narrative.
In sum, Figma's IPO is more than a financial event; it represents a bold declaration of independence and ambition in the SaaS landscape. Having escaped a multi-billion-dollar acquisition, the company now stands poised to shape the future of digital product design and collaboration, inviting public investors to join in that journey.
