$FIG IPO

Figma, founded in August 2012 by Dyan and Evan who met at Brown University, started with the vision of bridging the gap between imagination and reality in design. Recognizing the exponential growth of software creation and the increasing importance of design, they developed a browser-based design tool using WebGL technology. This allowed for real-time, collaborative design, moving away from the traditional private, single-player, and offline model. When Figma started co-designing in the browser was considered a radical idea, but today its become the norm. LTM revs are $821M w/46% growth.

IPO is highlighting that Figma has evolved from just a design tool into a comprehensive platform for product development. This expansion includes products like Figma for brainstorming, Figma Slides for presentations, Figma Design for visualizing concepts, Figma Draw for vector editing, Figma Make for AI-powered prototyping, Dev Mode for code translation, Figma Sites for website building, and Figma Buzz for marketing asset creation.

Figma's offerings have expanded from a single design tool to eight products in a few years, aiming to serve the entire product development process (so NO need for Asana, Monday, Jira/Team?/TWLO). This expansion is supported by platform, which ensures each new product is easier to incubate, test, and launch, and shares the same underlying DNA. This platform consists of five key ingredients:

Multiplayer: All products are built with real-time collaboration in mind, enabling multiple users to edit designs simultaneously and interact on an infinite canvas. This is achieved through a custom runtime built on WebGPU and Wom, bypassing the traditional browser stack to utilize GPUs and CPUs more directly, similar to game engines.

Extensibility: Figma's APIs and plugin architecture allow users to customize the tools to their specific needs, adding bespoke functionality, connecting to other tools and data, or integrating with their codebase.

Interoperability: This allows for seamless transitions between Figma's products. For example, a design mock can be copied from Figma Design into Figma Slides for presentations or into Figma Make for realistic prototypes. This ensures work created in one product can be iterated upon in another and allows different users to access the same content with relevant user experiences.

Design Systems: Figma supports design systems, which are reusable building blocks that create a shared visual language for a team. This helps bridge the gap between design and code, promoting consistency and quality in product development.

AI: AI is being woven throughout the entire suite of products to accelerate the product development journey. Figma AI helps automate tedious tasks, makes design accessible to more people, operates directly on existing Figma files (understanding layers, components, styles, and interactions), and allows for real-time collaboration with AI assistance. It can generate and reconcile code with existing codebases.