Figma's 50x ARR Multiple and What It Means for Startup Fundraising
tomtunguz.comAdobe did not buy Figma at a 50x multiple because it thinks Figma is worth that much. It bought the company at 50x because it was a number Figma's board couldn't say no to, and removes their stiffest competition in a quarter century in the process.
Maybe they should have stayed put and let them grow further? What's stopping now a Figma-like, possibly COSS app to emerge? Penpot might not be it, but something new?
Adobe's market cap is $150bln. At some point, if Figma continued to grow then they might not have been able to make an attractive offer.
That's a problem they felt was worth $20bln to avoid.
Nothing but the cost, marketing, and effort to rebuild yet another design app.
"Why would I use that when I can get figma, XD, or zeplin"
Collaboration software have network effects.
Means nothing unless your startup will eat adobes lunch.
It seems strange to me - if the only possible way of valuing Figma at it's sale price is to assume that Adobe is doing something massively anti-competitive then surely a regulator can't stand for that right?
factor in lost revenue due to market cannibalization for adobe? might make more sense
The regulators should be blocking such acquisitions
Sure seems like they will, but it will probably take a month or more to find out if they will try.
In the meantime, Adobe gets to see the inside of Figma, poke around the code, etc? I wonder if that is the plan: Suck up as much information as possible before the regulators shut it down. Sorry, it's not our fault we can't give you $50 billion and have you join the team...
They agreed to pay a $1 billion termination fee if the deal goes south.
https://thetechee.com/deal-adobe-to-buy-online-design-startu...