Inside Figma: From 2012 to Now Into a $132 million business
Startup Type:
Headquarter: San Francisco, USA
Current Status: Active (acquisition by Adobe pending regulatory approval)
Founders: Dylan Field, Evan Wallace
Founded Year: 2012
Investors: Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital
Funding Raised: $132 million
What Is the business model of Figma?
Collaborative cloud-based design tool that allows multiple users to design user interfaces and graphics in real-time via a browser, monetized through SaaS subscriptions
How Figma got started?
Field and Wallace started Figma after seeing an opportunity to move design software to the cloud, they spent years in stealth developing a WebGL-powered design editor, launching the product in 2015 to challenge Adobe
what growth strategy has Figma followed?
Attracted users by offering a free tier and emphasizing real-time collaboration and cross-platform convenience, product-led growth through designer communities and teams adopting it for its multiplayer design capabilities, eventually leading to a $20B acquisition agreement by Adobe in 2022
what are the top products/features of Figma
Figma design editor, FigJam online whiteboard, Community marketplace for shared design files
what was the biggest challenge faced by Figma?
Going up against Adobe’s entrenched design tools and convincing designers to switch to a new cloud-based workflow, while keeping the service performant in browsers