Figma’s public debut on NYSE Thursday, which saw the company valued at more than $60 billion as of this morning, was one of tech’s biggest success stories of the year. It was also a big day for Iconiq Capital, which invested in 2013.
Back then, Iconiq was a wealth management firm for Silicon Valley’s elite and had not yet set up its venture arm. The general pitch was that, by taking Iconiq’s money, entrepreneurs were also getting access to a brain trust that included people like Mark Zuckerberg, then-LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, and many others.
Relative to other VCs, Iconiq is less known to the general public. But that appears to be changing, as the company makes blockbuster bets: It is leading a roughly $5 billion investment round in Anthropic.
Figma’s journey to liquidity was a tumultuous one. It agreed to a $20 billion acquisition by Adobe in 2022, only to see the deal fall apart in the midst of antitrust fervor in Washington.
I asked Iconiq partner Will Griffith if the VC firm’s deep bench of expertise was an asset to Figma co-founder and CEO Dylan Field during that bumpy ride. “A lot of people around that table, a lot of trusted advisers that he built up rapport with over time, had the right set of experiences to give incredible advice,” Griffith said.
Figma’s playbook then appears to have been flawless. Field negotiated a $1 billion breakup fee in case the deal was blocked. Now, the company is worth more than double the price Adobe was willing to pay.
Things have changed a lot since Iconiq invested in Figma. Back then, swashbuckling startup founders with absentee boards was the norm. At the top echelon of tech investing, those days are over. Startup founders are now surrounding themselves with active advisers.