Hi, it’s Alexandra Sternlicht filling in for Allie today. Figma’s sensational IPO last week resurrected longstanding debates about IPO pricing and first day pops—an unsurprising reaction to the newly listed stock’s 333% surge in its first days of trading. As investors dissect the offering (and as Figma’s stock settles back a bit, falling 27% on Monday), an equally important set of questions are in the air: Will Figma’s debut entice other startups to jump into the fray, bringing an end to the tech industry’s IPO drought? And if so, who’s next?
“Having positive IPOs is a good signal for everybody,” says Kirsten Green, founder and managing partner at Forerunner Ventures, whose portfolio company Chime recently went public and experienced a 37% pop in stock price on its first day of trading. (Forerunner also has investments in public company Hims & Hers and late stage private companies including Oura.)
Green floats the idea of startups thinking of an IPO as the Series A of their new lives in the public markets—a notion she thinks could be “a motivator to people’s willingness, and maybe even eagerness, to go public.” (As if on cue, HeartFlow, a medical technology company, filed an S-1 for its IPO at a $1.3 billion valuation the day after Figma’s debut.)
There’s a long list of late-stage VC-backed tech companies with strong customer bases that Wall Street investment bankers would love to take public. Many of these multibillion-dollar companies, including Databricks, Klarna, Stripe, and SpaceX, have been subjects of IPO speculation for years. And then, of course, there’s the crop of richly valued AI startups, from OpenAI and Anthropic, to Elon Musk’s xAI.
Those companies will likely continue to be in the spotlight, but in conversations I had with several investors following Figma’s debut, other names came up as more likely to IPO sooner including Canva, Revolut, Midjourney, Motive, and Anduril. Click here to read more about the post-Figma IPO watchlist.
Alexandra SternlichtX: @iamsternlichtEmail: [email protected]
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VENTURE DEALS
– Blue J, a Toronto, Canada-based generative-AI tax research platform, raised $122 million in Series D funding. Oak HC/FT and Sapphire Ventures led the round and were joined by Intrepid Growth Partners and existing investors Ten Coves Capital and CPA.com.
– QuamCore, a Herzliya, Israel-based quantum computing company, raised $26 million in Series A funding. Sentinel Global led the round and was joined by Arkin Capital and existing investors Viola Ventures, Earth & Beyond Ventures, Surround Ventures, Rhodium, and Quantum Leap.
– OpenMind, a San Francisco-based developer of software designed for shared intelligence and coordination between robots, raised $20 million in funding. Pantera Capital led the round and was joined by Ribbit, Coinbase Ventures, HSG, DCG, Pebblebed, Topology, Primitive Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Anagram, and angel investors.
– Jeh Aerospace, an Atlanta, Ga.-based aerospace manufacturing startup, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Elevation Capital led the round and was joined by General Catalyst.
– Doughlicious, a London, U.K.-based frozen snack company, raised $5 million in funding. Rich Products Ventures and The Angel Group led the round and were joined by existing investors.
– Resolvd AI, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based developer of technology designed to automate reconciliation workflows in the health care supply chain and IT operations, raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding from Spice Capital, Betaworks, Factorial Capital, and angel investors.
PRIVATE EQUITY
– ARCHIMED acquired a majority stake in Arkstone Medical Solutions, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based AI diagnostics company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Audax Private Equity and Parthenon Capital acquired a majority stake in Elevate Patient Financial Solutions, a Spring, Texas-based provider of revenue cycle management solutions to hospitals and health systems. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Brightstar Capital Partners acquired Analyte Health, a Houston, Texas-based digital health company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– H.I.G. Capital acquired Kantar Media, a London, U.K.-based media measurement and analytics company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Valence Surface Technologies, backed by ATL Partners, acquired C.I.L., a Lawrence, Mass.-based provider of surface treatment for highly engineered products in aerospace or defense. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
– Descartes Systems Group (Nasdaq:DSGX) acquired Finale Inventory, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based cloud-based inventory management solutions company, for up to $55 million in total considerations.
IPOS
– Firefly Aerospace, a Cedar Park, Texas-based space and defense technology company, now plans to raise $696.6 million in an offering of 16.2 million shares priced between $41 and $43 on the Nasdaq. The company posted $108 million in revenue for the year ending March 31, 2025. AE Industrial Partners, Astera Institute, and Thomas Markusic back the company.
– Bullish, a Cayman Islands-based crypto exchange, announced plans to raise $629.3 million in an offering of 20.3 million shares priced between $28 and $31. The company posted $167 million in revenue for the year ending March 31, 2025. Pu Luo Chung VC, Alexander See, Bullish Global, Galaxy Digital Ventures, Camomille Global Opportunities Fund, and EFM Global Growth Master Fund back the company.
PEOPLE
– HGGC, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based private equity firm, promoted Anna Ike Pope and William Dean to Principal.
