Figma managed one thing uncommon in as we speak’s market: it survived a failed Adobe acquisition, stayed impartial, and went public by itself phrases. However its post-IPO efficiency tells a extra complicated story about startup exits in 2025.
“It is a little little bit of a meme inventory,” stated Jai Das, president and accomplice at Sapphire Ventures, on this week’s episode of Fairness. Das joined Rebecca Bellan to interrupt down what Figma’s IPO actually alerts in regards to the present local weather for startup exits.
With greater than a dozen IPOs underneath his belt together with MuleSoft, Sq., and Field, Das is aware of what a powerful debut seems like. Figma’s IPO was 40x oversubscribed and briefly surged to $125 per share earlier than settling nearer to $90. Regardless of spectacular financials, Das cautioned that fundamentals weren’t the one pressure at play.
“The value of shares is pushed a little bit bit by money circulate and earnings, however a variety of it’s also pushed by human conduct, what folks know, what folks speak about,” he stated.
In different phrases, piping sizzling hype.
Whereas Figma stands out, Das famous that almost all of 2025’s large exits look very totally different. In AI, M&A has been dominated by acqui-hires fairly than product acquisitions. Google reportedly paid $2.7 billion simply to rent Character.AI’s workforce, and Microsoft, Amazon, and others have made related strikes, prioritizing expertise over know-how.
Take heed to the total episode to listen to:
- What Figma’s post-IPO inventory motion alerts to the remainder of the market.
- Why AI exits as we speak focus extra on expertise than tech and whether or not that’s sustainable.
- The place Jai sees early promise past AI, from protection tech to SpaceTech and crypto infrastructure.
Fairness can be again Friday with our weekly information roundup, so keep tuned.
Fairness is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts each Wednesday and Friday.
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