Figma Files For IPO (cnbc.com) 27
Figma has filed to go public on the NYSE under the ticker "FIG," marking one of the most anticipated IPOs in recent years following its scrapped $20 billion acquisition by Adobe. CNBC reports: Revenue in the first quarter increased 46% to $228.2 million from $156.2 million in the same period a year ago, according to Figma's prospectus. The company recorded a net income of $44.9 million, compared to $13.5 million a year earlier. As of March 31, Figma had 1,031 customers contributing at least $100,000 a year to annual revenue, up 47% from a year earlier. Clients include Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and Netflix. More than half of revenue comes from outside the U.S. Figma didn't say how many shares it plans to sell in the IPO. The company was valued at $12.5 billion in a tender offer last year, and in April it announced that it had confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC. [...]
Figma was founded in 2012 by CEO Dylan Field, 33, and Evan Wallace, and is based in San Francisco. The company had 1,646 employees as of March 31. Before establishing Figma, Field spent over two years at Brown University, where he met Wallace. Field then took a Thiel Fellowship "to pursue entrepreneurial projects," according to the filing. The two-year program that Founders Fund partner Peter Thiel established in 2011 gives young entrepreneurs a $200,000 grant along with support from founders and investors, according to an online description. Field is the biggest individual owner of Figma, with 56.6 million Class B shares and 51.1% of voting power ahead of the IPO. He said in a letter to investors that it was time for Figma to buck the "trend of many amazing companies staying privately indefinitely." "Some of the obvious benefits such as good corporate hygiene, brand awareness, liquidity, stronger currency and access to capital markets apply," wrote Field. "More importantly, I like the idea of our community sharing in the ownership of Figma -- and the best way to accomplish this is through public markets."
As a public company, Field said investors should "expect us to take big swings," including through acquisitions.
In April, Figma bought the assets and team of an unnamed technology company for $14 million, according to the filing. They also registered over 13 million users per month, one-third of which are designers.
Figma was founded in 2012 by CEO Dylan Field, 33, and Evan Wallace, and is based in San Francisco. The company had 1,646 employees as of March 31. Before establishing Figma, Field spent over two years at Brown University, where he met Wallace. Field then took a Thiel Fellowship "to pursue entrepreneurial projects," according to the filing. The two-year program that Founders Fund partner Peter Thiel established in 2011 gives young entrepreneurs a $200,000 grant along with support from founders and investors, according to an online description. Field is the biggest individual owner of Figma, with 56.6 million Class B shares and 51.1% of voting power ahead of the IPO. He said in a letter to investors that it was time for Figma to buck the "trend of many amazing companies staying privately indefinitely." "Some of the obvious benefits such as good corporate hygiene, brand awareness, liquidity, stronger currency and access to capital markets apply," wrote Field. "More importantly, I like the idea of our community sharing in the ownership of Figma -- and the best way to accomplish this is through public markets."
As a public company, Field said investors should "expect us to take big swings," including through acquisitions.
In April, Figma bought the assets and team of an unnamed technology company for $14 million, according to the filing. They also registered over 13 million users per month, one-third of which are designers.
Most sincere thing I've ever read (Score:4, Funny)
"More importantly, I like the idea of our community sharing in the ownership of Figma -- and the best way to accomplish this is through public markets."
Yes, no doubt "community sharing" is by far the most important reason he wants to go public. It's not because he wants money, not at all.
It's well understood that the stock market understands community, and the artistic value of things other than the dollar. Fund managers are the ones you want to talk to for advice about website layout tools.
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"community sharing in the ownership of Figma"
Did your brain not parse that properly? The way you share ownership of a company with the public is by, surprise, selling shares the the public.
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Usually when people say "community ownership" they mean "ownership by the community of users." That is clearly not what he means here. Although he seems to have tricked you, low-minded IQ that you are.
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Usually when people say "community ownership" they mean some imagined loyalty that doesn't have anything to do with actually owning anything.
I have no idea what this guy cares about, but he is using words to mean what they actually mean.
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I have no idea what this guy cares about,
I can see that you have no idea. That is obvious.
Re: Most sincere thing I've ever read (Score:2)
But "They also registered over 13 million users per month." So that would be about 150 million UI designers per year.... I'm sure that will never taper off.. funny though, I thought the summary said they had only 450,000 customers.
It's almost as if some people will say anything, even things that don't make sense,
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But "They also registered over 13 million users per month." ... funny though, I thought the summary said they had only 450,000 customers.
It's almost as if the words "users" and "customers" don't mean the same thing!
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Figma (Score:1, Insightful)
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I think they mean "Ligma", as in "Lig ma balls". Got 'em!
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I came here to post WTF IS Figma?
Never heard of it.
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It's on the Internet! That's all you need to know. Buy. Buy. BUY!
I'm confused. Why didn't the summary talk about AI? Figma does AI, isn't that all that matters??? Add AI to the summary, and it becomes Buy, Buy, BUY, BUUY, BUUUY!
What the hell is Figma? (Score:5, Insightful)
It would be nice if, somewhere in the extensive history in the summary, it mentioned what the fuck Figma does.
Re:What the hell is Figma? (Score:5, Informative)
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Well, whatever it is, it's soon to get a lot worse, once the shareholders start demanding their 'value'.
FWIW, a previous shop I worked for used Figma for some stuff - it did pretty well at it. I never played with it directly mind you, I just got to look at the outputs of it.
figma (Score:3)
Figma balls
What now? (Score:3, Insightful)
A six paragraph summary that doesn't once mention what the company makes or sells. I'm guessing that's because it's actually nothing; the next in a long line of vaporware IPOs.
Re:What now? (Score:4, Informative)
They sell access to an online service that lets you mock up and prototype user interfaces, such as a phone or tablet. I assume they can also prototype desktop-type UI layouts. I think they were one of the earliest on-line, web-delivered tools of this type. Now there are quite a few others. And there are even some open source ones.
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Well,
yesterday I stumbled over about 10 job offers, where Figma knowledge was required. ...
And it was clear from context what it is
It is actually not that common that companies do a multi billion IPO and have "nothing".
Doesn't everyone "vibe code" UIs now? (Score:2)
I give Figma 5 years max.
What is Figma ? (Score:2)
Going bust soon. (Score:2)
Disclaimer: This is a repost from a while back and I'm a senior webdev and part of the target customers.
>>>>
Figma barely has a business case. Anything still left is being snacked up by AI or will eventually be replaced by open source software.
With UI design tools it's just like with Editors or Web Toolkits. There is always some hype-cycle that pushes the tool that then quickly gets replaced by the next fad: Sketch - Adobe XD - Invision - Figma ... whatever. Meanwhile folks who have chosen and st