Who owns Figma? Ownership structure explained (2026)

Figma went from a scrappy browser-based design tool to one of the most closely watched tech IPOs of 2025. When Adobe tried to buy the company for $20 billion in 2022, regulators blocked the deal — a rare outcome that underscored just how strategically important Figma had become to the design software market.

Since its IPO on July 31, 2025, the question of who owns Figma has taken on new dimensions. The company's dual-class share structure means public shareholders have limited influence over corporate direction, while co-founder Dylan Field retains supermajority voting control. Venture capital firms that backed Figma through six private rounds still hold significant stakes. And the stock's dramatic post-IPO decline — falling over 80% from its highs — has reshaped the economic picture for all parties.

This article breaks down Figma's ownership structure, traces its funding history, identifies the key people in control, and explains why the ownership setup matters for the company's strategic future.

Figma is a cloud-based design platform used by product teams to create, prototype, and collaborate on user interfaces. Co-founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, the company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

The platform's core advantage is that it runs entirely in the browser, enabling real-time collaboration without desktop software. That approach helped Figma displace incumbents like Sketch and Adobe XD across enterprise design teams. Products like FigJam (a digital whiteboard) and the recently acquired Figma Weave (AI-powered image and animation tools) extend the platform beyond static design.

Figma's market cap sits between roughly $9.9 billion and $11.1 billion as of mid-2026 — estimates vary by source and timing. The company raised approximately $1.2 billion in its July 2025 IPO, pricing shares at $33 each for an initial valuation of around $19.3 billion. That valuation has since compressed significantly amid a broader repricing of growth stocks and rising AI competition.

The company trades on the NYSE under the ticker FIG.

Figma's ownership is split between venture capital firms that backed the company during its private years, public institutional investors, and insiders — most notably co-founder Dylan Field. Because Figma only went public in mid-2025, many of its largest shareholders are still the same venture funds that led its early funding rounds.

Post-IPO, institutional investors like Vanguard and Fidelity have accumulated positions through index funds and actively managed portfolios. Vanguard holds approximately 1.60% via its Total Stock Market ETF and another 1.16% via its Small-Cap ETF, as of March 2026. Fidelity's Contrafund holds about 1.07%.

Dylan Field's economic ownership was approximately 8.9% ahead of the IPO — a relatively modest stake for a founder-CEO. But economic ownership tells only part of the story. Through Figma's dual-class share structure and an irrevocable proxy agreement with co-founder Evan Wallace, Field controls 73.6% of the company's total voting power.

Wallace, who departed the company in 2021 after serving as CTO, retains an approximate 5.5% economic stake held in a family trust. However, he granted his voting rights to Field via an irrevocable proxy, further consolidating Field's control.

Figma's governance architecture is built on three share classes:

This 15:1 voting ratio is what allows Field to maintain supermajority control despite owning less than 10% of the company economically. It's a structure common among recent tech IPOs — Snap, Lyft, and DoorDash all adopted similar setups — but it effectively means public shareholders have minimal say in major corporate decisions like board composition, executive compensation, or strategic direction.

Figma's standard 180-day IPO lock-up period expired in January 2026, opening the door for broader insider selling. Before that, a performance-based early lock-up release in September 2025 allowed certain insiders and institutional investors to sell a portion of their locked shares.

The timing proved consequential. Figma's stock has fallen over 80% from its post-IPO highs, trading in the $17–$21 range by April/May 2026. That decline, driven by market-wide repricing of growth stocks and emerging AI competition, means investors who didn't sell early are sitting on substantially reduced positions.

Dylan Field is the most powerful figure at Figma by a wide margin. He co-founded the company in 2012 after dropping out of Brown University to accept a Thiel Fellowship — the Peter Thiel-backed program that pays promising young entrepreneurs $100,000 to skip college and build companies.

Field has served as CEO since founding and also holds the position of Board Chair, an unusual concentration of authority. Combined with his 73.6% voting control, this dual role means Field has effective unilateral power over Figma's strategic direction, board appointments, and major corporate actions.

Evan Wallace co-founded Figma alongside Field in 2012 and served as CTO during the company's formative years. He left the company in 2021, citing burnout. While he retains a meaningful economic stake (~5.5%), his irrevocable proxy agreement means his voting power flows directly to Field.

In April 2026, Mike Krieger — Instagram co-founder and Anthropic executive — resigned from Figma's board of directors effective immediately. The company stated the departure was not due to operational disagreements, though it coincided with reports that Anthropic was developing competing AI design tools. The resignation drew investor scrutiny regarding board oversight and the competitive threat from AI-native platforms.

Figma's path from seed-stage startup to public company spans over a decade, punctuated by a near-acquisition by Adobe and a high-profile IPO.

The most consequential ownership event in Figma's history was the failed Adobe acquisition. In September 2022, Adobe announced plans to buy Figma for $20 billion — a staggering 50x revenue multiple at the time. The deal would have made it one of the largest software acquisitions ever.

But regulators in the UK (Competition and Markets Authority) and the European Commission raised serious antitrust concerns. Both agencies worried the merger would eliminate Adobe's most credible competitor in the interactive design tools market. By December 2023, both companies mutually terminated the deal. Adobe paid Figma a $1 billion breakup fee, which gave the company a significant cash cushion heading into its independent future.

After the Adobe deal collapsed, Figma conducted a secondary tender offer in May 2024 that valued the company at $12.5 billion — well below the $20 billion Adobe price but still a premium to its last private round. The company then pursued an IPO, listing on the NYSE on July 31, 2025 with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as lead underwriters.

The IPO priced at $33 per share, implying a valuation of roughly $19.3 billion. But the stock has since declined sharply, reflecting both a tougher environment for growth stocks and competitive pressure from AI-powered design tools.

The collapse of the Adobe acquisition was a landmark regulatory moment — not just for Figma, but for the broader software M&A market. It signaled that regulators were willing to block deals between a dominant incumbent and its most promising challenger, even when the target company was relatively small by revenue.

No new regulatory actions targeting Figma have been identified in the past 12 months.

Figma's governance structure raises a different kind of concern. Dylan Field holds both the CEO and Board Chair roles while controlling 73.6% of the voting power. That level of concentration means public shareholders have limited ability to influence the company's direction — on executive pay, strategic acquisitions, or capital allocation.

The abrupt departure of board member Mike Krieger in April 2026 added to investor unease. While Figma said the resignation wasn't tied to internal disagreements, the timing — amid reports of Anthropic building competing AI design tools — raised questions about whether the board had adequate oversight of Figma's competitive positioning.

Figma's ownership structure has direct implications for its users, investors, and the broader design software market.

For users, Field's concentrated control means product decisions flow from a single vision. That can be an advantage — Figma's browser-first, collaboration-centric approach was a founder-driven bet that paid off. But it also means there's limited external check on strategic pivots, pricing changes, or data policies.

For investors, the dual-class structure means buying FIG shares gives you economic exposure but almost no governance influence. If you disagree with management's direction, your primary recourse is selling.

For the market, Figma's independence — preserved by the Adobe deal's collapse — keeps a competitive alternative alive in the design tools space. But the company now faces a new wave of AI-native competitors, and how Field navigates that challenge will be shaped by the fact that he answers, structurally, to almost no one.

Dylan Field is the CEO of Figma. He co-founded the company in 2012 and has served as CEO since its inception. Field also holds the position of Board Chair and controls 73.6% of the company's voting power through a dual-class share structure.

Yes. Figma completed its IPO on July 31, 2025, listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FIG. Shares were priced at $33 at the IPO, though the stock has since declined significantly.

Figma was co-founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace. Field remains CEO, while Wallace departed in 2021 after serving as CTO. Wallace retains an approximate 5.5% economic stake but has granted his voting rights to Field.

The largest shareholders by ownership percentage are venture capital firms from Figma's private funding rounds: Index Ventures (~13%), Greylock Partners (~12%), Kleiner Perkins (~8.6% pre-IPO), and Sequoia Capital (~7%). Among institutional investors, Vanguard and Fidelity hold smaller but notable positions.

Adobe's planned $20 billion acquisition of Figma, announced in September 2022, was terminated in December 2023 after facing regulatory opposition from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority and the European Commission. Both agencies raised antitrust concerns about eliminating competition in the design tools market. Adobe paid Figma a $1 billion breakup fee.

Figma uses three share classes: Class A (1 vote per share, held by public investors), Class B (15 votes per share, held by founders and early insiders), and Class C (no voting rights). This structure allows CEO Dylan Field to maintain 73.6% voting control with less than 10% economic ownership.