As Figma goes public, a turning point in the long-awaited IPO market recovery takes shape
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Figma, the design software unicorn run by Dylan Field, will go public on Thursday in a moment bigger than any one company.
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investment
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July 31, 2025
11:44 AM
Fortune
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s·Term SheetAs Figma goes public, a turning point in the long-awaited IPO market recovery takes shapeBy Allie GarfinkleBy Allie GarfinkleSenior Finance Reporter and author of Term SheetAllie GarfinkleSenior Finance Reporter and author of Term SheetAllie Garfinkle is a senior finance reporter for Fortune, covering venture capital and startups
She Term Sheet, Fortune’s weekday dealmaking .SEE FULL BIO Dylan Field, CEO and cofounder of Figma.FigmaIPOs are prismatic
They’re the past and the future, the company that’s going public and the wider market
IPOs are moments of truth—will public market investors, literally, buy what VCs have been backing for years? It’s also an event that tests how people are thinking the wider IPO market
Are we, after all this time, so back? On Wednesday, Figma, the design software unicorn led by Dylan Field, its initial public offering, raising $1.2 billion in ceeds ($1.4 billion if you include the over-allotement) for the company and some of its early holders, signaling strong demand for its s which will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange this morning
Figma seemingly sailed through its investor roadshow, upping its price from the initial $25 to $28 range to the $33 it ultimately priced at
And after the company’s $20 billion planned merger with Adobe fell apart a year-and-a-half ago, the $19 billion valuation that Figma has fetched in its IPO is a pretty remarkable testament to its potential as a standalone
Derek Hernandez, emerging nology senior analyst at PitchBook, says that even compared to successful IPOs of late, Figma is singular, with its year-over-year revenue growth apaching 50%, and its Q1 fitability (Figma’s Q1 net income was $44.9 million). “Figma stands out even among recent high-growth software IPOs Circle and CoreWeave,” Hernandez said via . “Figma has both scale and earnings and is a prime example of a high-growth, VC-backed company with a strong narrative that the market is eager for, positioning it as one of the most credible high-growth listings this year.” This is, ultimately, high praise—in June, stablecoin firm Circle was priced at $31 a , and closed yesterday at $190, while CoreWeave’s initially muted IPO still has the company up 150% year-to-date
High praise, of course, also means high expectations
This, perhaps, has long been true of Figma: A look at the company’s SEC filings shows that a staggering four top VC firms have stakes in Figma valued north of $1 billion—Index, Greylock, Kleiner Perkins, and Sequoia
And while the fallout from the failed Adobe merger was public, that attempted merger also lingers in the background as a positive signal of s, “which served as a massive validation of Figma’s strategic importance and market position,” said Greg Martin, managing director at Rainmaker Securities, via
Adobe looms in Figma’s past and its future, added Martin, who noted that Figma has both the opportunity and challenge of “overtaking Adobe as the leading design software company, with its cloud-native collaborative platform.” One interesting detail: Figma itself only raised $411 million
Most of the ceeds are going to a group of selling holders (including VCs) each taking a small slice off the table
But the biggest selling holder is MCF Gift Fund, part of the Marin Community Foundation, a philanthropic organization which sold 13.4 million s for a cool $441 million
For today, though, it appears that Figma could be the harbinger of a simmering truth: that the market for venture-backed IPOs is in a thoughtful recovery
PitchBook’s Hernandez points out via that there have been 119 offerings year-to-date, up 45% year-over-year. “Figma could serve as a bellwether for the market today,” Hernandez wrote Fortune. “It may vide of-of-concept for other SaaS names, such as Canva, Netskope, and Databricks… Should Figma stumble out of the gate, especially with all its strengths, this may reinforce some caution among late-stage VCs and delay other large floats.” This isn’t a 2021 deluge, but it’s not an early-2024 drought either. “While investor appetite has been selective, Figma shows that there’s still strong demand for companies with compelling growth stories, strong fundamentals, and differentiation—especially in SaaS and AI,” said Rainmaker Securities’ Martin via . “We’re not back to the frothy environment of 2021, but high-quality companies are beginning to test the waters successfully again.” If IPOs are prisms, Figma’s a flashpoint
Now, we see what shines through
Introducing the Term Sheet Podcast… After years in your inbox, Term Sheet’s coming to a podcast near you
Today, we’re launching the Term Sheet Podcast—bringing this long-loved to life in audio and
Each week, I’ll sit down with investors and founders to break down the biggest deals, trade takes, and drop at least one dad joke
First up: Will Hurd, Chief Strategy Officer at CHAOS Industries
He’s been a presidential candidate, congressman, and undercover CIA officer
You won’t want to miss it, so listen here
And, as always, hot takes, reviews, and general feelings go to alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
See you tomorrow, Allie GarfinkleX: @agarfinks: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.comSubmit a deal for the Term Sheet here
Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today’s . here
Venture Deals- Ramp, a New York City-based financial operations platform, raised $500 million in Series E-2 funding
ICONIQ led the round and was joined by Sutter Hill Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures, T
Rowe Price Associates, GV, and others.- Oxide Computer Company, an Emeryville, Calif.-based cloud computing company, raised $100 million in Series B funding
US Innovative nology Fund led the round and was joined by existing investors Eclipse, Intel Capital, Riot Ventures, and others. - Motive, a San Francisco-based AI-powered Integrated Operations Platform for the physical economy, raised $150 million in funding
Kleiner Perkins led the round and was joined by AllianceBernstein and existing investors.- phet Security, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based security platform, raised $30 million in Series A funding
Accel led the round and was joined by Bain Capital Ventures and others.- PlayerZero, an Atlanta-based predictive software company that uses AI agents to fix coding blems before that code is released, raised $15 million in Series A funding and $5 million in seed funding
Foundation Capital led the Series A round and Green Bay Ventures led the seed round. - C8 Health, a New York City-based practices implementation platform for health care, raised $12 million in Series A funding
Team8 led the round and was joined by 10D and Vertex Venture Israel.- Metaforms, a San Francisco-based AI platform for market re agencies, raised $9 million in Series A funding
Peak XV Partners led the round and was joined by Nexus Venture Partners and Together Fund.- FloVision Solutions, a South Bend, Ind.-based company AI-powered yield and quality analytics for tein duction, raised $8.7 million in Series A funding
Insight Partners led the round and was joined by Serra Ventures, SOSV, and Rockstart.- Cyata, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based control plane for agentic identities, raised $8.5 million in seed funding
TLV Partners led the round.- Runloop, a San Francisco-based infrastructure platform for and deploying AI coding agents, raised $7 million in seed funding
The General Partnership led the round and was joined by Blank Ventures.- RunReveal, an Austin, Texas-based security data platform, raised $7 million in seed funding
Costanoa led the round and was joined by Runtime Ventures, Modern nical Fund, Okta Ventures, and angel investors.- Tonic Security, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based cybersecurity startup, raised $7 million in seed funding
Hertz Ventures led the round and was joined by Vesey Ventures and angel investors.- Caseflood.ai, a San Francisco-based legal AI agent, raised $3.2 million in funding from Acquisition.com, Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, Four Cities Capital, Elevation Capital, Amino Capital, and others.- Dawnguard, an Amsterdam-based cybersecurity company, raised $3 million in pre-seed funding. 9900 Capital led the round and was joined by angel investors
Private Equity- Contentsquare, backed by Sixth Street, acquired Loris AI, a New York City-based conversation intelligence platform
Financial terms were not disclosed.- DataServ, a portfolio company of Renovus Capital, is merging with FactX, a North Andover, Mass.-based IT and consulting firm
Financial terms were not disclosed.- KKR acquired a majority stake in HealthCare Royalty Partners, a Stamford, Conn.-based biopharma royalty company
Financial terms were not disclosed.- Partners Group acquired a minority stake in Nozomi Networks, a San Francisco- and Mendrisio, Switzerland-based vider of industrial cybersecurity software
Financial terms were not disclosed.Other- Evercore agreed to acquire Robey Warshaw, a London, U.K.-based independent advisory firm, for a total consideration of $196 million.- Silvaco agreed to acquire Mixel Group, a San Jose, Calif.-based mixed-signal IP vider
Financial terms were not disclosed
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