From 9 cents to $115: The feast behind Figma (FIG.US)'s 100 billion market capitalization, Greylock's 40-fold return hits record

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the design collaboration platform Figma (FIG.US) landed on the New York Stock Exchange last night and soared 250% on the first day of listing, detonating the market. Early venture capital investors received rich returns of billions of dollars.

Figma's biggest venture supporter Index Ventures invested nearly $100 million in seed funding during the company's start-up phase, according to a source familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named. Based on Figma's IPO issuance price, shares held by Index were worth US$2.17 billion as of Wednesday.

By the close of the first trading day on Thursday, after excluding a small number of shares sold in the IPO, the value of Index's Figma shares had climbed to $7.23 billion. However, this figure may change as the share price fluctuates.

Figma's second-largest investor, Greylock Partners, led the company's Series A financing in 2015, when the stock price was valued at 20 cents per share. According to people familiar with the matter, Greylock's total investment in Figma was about 50 million US dollars, and at the time of the IPO, its holding value reached 2.03 billion US dollars — the return on investment was more than 40 times. Also excluding sold shares, Greylock's holding value rose to around $6.75 billion on Thursday.

In addition to these two multi-billion-dollar institutions, well-known investors such as Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital (Sequoia Capital) also bet early on the company, which was in its infancy. For the venture capital industry, which previously experienced a cold winter in the IPO market for a long time, these huge profits are of great significance.

Three years ago, Figma's investors almost only had far lower returns than they do today. In 2022, Adobe had planned to buy Figma for $20 billion, but due to regulatory issues, the deal was terminated in 2023. This week, Figma was listed at an issue price of $33 per share, with a fully diluted valuation of US$18.5 billion; by Thursday's close, its fully diluted valuation had reached US$65 billion (US$115.50 per share), far exceeding the price it plans to sell in 2022.

Index Ventures partner Danny Rimer (Danny Rimer) led Figma's seed round investment in 2013, when the company's stock price was valued at only 9 cents per share. He said he has long been moved by the product vision of co-founder Dylan Field (Dylan Field) and shares Field's view that design is the “most important deciding factor” for many consumer-facing tech companies.

Field himself holds 11% of Figma's shares, and this listing has also brought him billions of dollars in wealth.

Kleiner Perkins partner Mamoon Hamid (Mamoon Hamid) first invested in Figma's Series B financing in 2018, when the stock price was 33 cents per share. According to people familiar with the matter, the agency's total investment in Figma was $90 million. Based on the IPO price, these shares were worth US$1.82 billion; by the close of the market on Thursday, the value of Figma shares held by Kleiner Perkins had reached US$6.05 billion.

Hamid has invested in many “Decacorns” (startups valued at over $10 billion). He said he was looking for “founders who want to make history” and entrepreneurs “born to solve problems affecting millions and billions of people.”

According to people familiar with the matter, Sequoia Capital, which led Figma's Series C financing, invested about 150 million US dollars in the company. Based on the $33 IPO price, Sequoia's shares are worth $1.13 billion; today, this portion of the shares is worth around $3.75 billion.

Other major shareholders include Andreessen Horowitz (Andreessen Horowitz), which led Series D funding when Figma valued $2 billion, and Durable Capital Partners led Series E financing when the company was valued at $10 billion. According to PitchBook data, Figma's total financing in the private phase exceeds 300 million US dollars.