Last week, Figma, the 12th largest component in the Prime Unicorn 30 Index, went public in a blockbuster IPO, seeing its share price jump 250% in its first day of trading. Even after falling over 27% on Monday, Figma is still priced over 4x higher than its last private fundraising. Let’s take a look at what happened.
What is Figma?
Figma is a collaborative design and product development platform founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace. After several years in development, Figma launched its browser-based design tool in 2016, offering real-time collaboration for UI/UX designers. The company has since expanded into whiteboarding (FigJam) and other productivity tools, attracting a broad user base beyond just designers. As of its IPO filing, Figma boasted 13 million monthly active users and usage in 95% of Fortune 500 companies. Its appeal has grown beyond the design community – about two-thirds of users are now non-designers, reflecting the platform’s widening adoption across product, engineering, and business teams.
Funding
Figma raised roughly $334.6M over six rounds, with its most recent being a $200M Series E round in June 2021, which valued the company at roughly $8.5B on a post-money valuation basis, according to the Prime Unicorn Index.
Figma was most recently valued at $11.1B in the Index following a secondary transaction in November 2024.
Adobe Deal
In September 2022, Adobe stunned the tech industry by agreeing to acquire Figma for $20B. At the time, Adobe’s offer was a massive premium, seen by many as an attempt to eliminate a growing competitor. However, the deal faced intense antitrust scrutiny in the EU and UK. By late 2023, regulators’ pushback led Adobe to abandon the takeover, forcing Figma to remain independent. Adobe paid Figma a $1B breakup fee for the failed merger, and Figma promptly resumed growth.
IPO
Last week, Figma priced its shares at $33 on the NYSE under ticker FIG, above a raised range of $30–32. The stock opened around $85 and closed its first day at $115.50, a 250% surge over the IPO price. Shares then pulled back about 27% on Monday to trade near $85, but that level remains over four times Figma’s $21.30 per-share price in its Series E round. The resulting market cap of roughly $45B vaults Figma from the 12th to the 4th largest component in the Prime Unicorn 30.
Market Implications
Figma’s blockbuster debut—with a 250% first-day pop and oversubscription north of 30×—signals that institutional demand for high-growth, late-stage tech has fully returned. Its “sell-the-news” pullback aside, the IPO underscores a reopening of the window for unicorn listings in 2025, encouraging other private tech firms to consider public exits and marking a clear shift back toward robust tech IPO activity.
