The San Francisco-based cloud collaborative design software company, Figma, has officially filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), aiming to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol FIG. With a targeted valuation of around $20 billion, Figma is poised to be one of the most anticipated tech IPOs of 2025. This article delves into the background, technological innovation, and market prospects of Figma, based on publicly available information.
Established in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, Figma initially positioned itself as a web-based interface design tool, emphasizing real-time collaboration and cloud storage. Its core product enables designers, developers, product managers, and other multi-disciplinary teams to collaborate on the same platform, revolutionizing the traditional single-machine, asynchronous work model of design software such as Adobe XD and Sketch. As of March 2025, Figma boasts 13 million monthly active users, with two-thirds not being traditional designers, including product managers, marketers, and content creators, demonstrating its broad industry applicability.
Figma's product lineup continues to expand:
– Figma Design: The core design tool supporting UI/UX design and prototyping.
– FigJam: A digital whiteboarding tool launched in 2021 for team brainstorming and cross-departmental collaboration.
– Dev Mode: Released in 2023, it assists developers in quickly converting designs into code.
– Figma Sites: Introduced as a Beta at the 2025 Config conference, it allows users to directly publish designs as websites, supporting content management system (CMS) functions.
Figma's investment in artificial intelligence is significant, with AI mentioned over 200 times in its S-1 filing, indicating its strategic focus. The company has already launched AI-driven features like Figma Make, which can quickly generate interactive prototypes, and plans to further integrate generative AI to optimize the design process.
Figma's financial data provides strong support for its high valuation. According to its S-1 filing:
– Revenue for 2024: $749 million, a 48% year-over-year increase.
– Revenue for Q1 2025: $228.2 million, a 46% year-over-year increase, with net income of $44.9 million, triple the $13.5 million from the same period last year.
– Customer size: Figma has 1031 customers contributing over $100,000 in annual revenue and 11,000 customers contributing over $10,000 in annual revenue.
– Cash reserves: As of March 2025, Figma holds $1.54 billion in cash and equivalents, debt-free, and has invested about $69.5 million in Bitcoin spot ETF, with plans to add another $30 million in Bitcoin investment.
Despite a net loss of $732 million in 2024 due to one-time expenses such as employee equity incentives, Figma achieved profitability in the first and second quarters of 2024, demonstrating its financial robustness. Its 91% gross margin and 150% net dollar retention rate further highlight its strong business model.
In 2022, Adobe announced a $20 billion acquisition of Figma, which was canceled in December 2023 due to opposition from EU and UK antitrust regulators, with Adobe paying Figma a $1 billion breakup fee. This failed acquisition not only provided Figma with ample cash flow but also spurred its accelerated independent development. Figma's valuation reached $12.5 billion in secondary market transactions in May 2024 and further rose to $17.84 billion in April 2025. The IPO target valuation of $20 billion, while in line with Adobe's acquisition valuation, reflects the market's confidence in its growth potential.
Figma's IPO coincides with a surge in capital market enthusiasm for tech stocks. The successful IPOs of AI infrastructure companies like CoreWeave and Circle in 2025 (with increases of 290% and 519%, respectively), have provided a favorable environment for Figma's listing. The company plans to raise about $1.5 billion through the IPO,有望成为年度最大科技IPO之一.
Figma's main competitors include Adobe XD, Sketch, Canva, and emerging AI-driven design tools such as Lovable. Its 90% market share in design tools is attributed to product-led growth (PLG) models and low learning curves. However, the rapid development of AI technology also poses challenges. Figma admits in its S-1 filing that it needs to continue investing in AI to maintain competitiveness, or it may be surpassed by emerging technologies.
To address this challenge, Figma has enhanced its AI and content management capabilities through acquisitions (such as the 2024 acquisitions of Payload and Modyfi) and expanded into the education market through partnerships with Google for Education. Additionally, Figma has obtained FedRAMP Moderate certification, entering the government and public sectors, further broadening its revenue sources.
Figma's future growth strategy focuses on:
– Global expansion: Currently, over half of its revenue comes from markets outside the United States, with plans to further expand into Europe and Asia.
– Enterprise customers: Attracting more large customers such as Microsoft, Airbnb, and Uber through advanced analytics, security, and customization features.
– AI innovation: Continuing to invest in generative AI to optimize design and collaboration processes.
CEO Dylan Field stated in a letter to investors, "We will continue to take bold steps, including expanding our influence through acquisitions." This strategy indicates that Figma is not satisfied with just the design tool market but is committed to becoming an end-to-end product development platform.