Starting Line

ActiveVenture Capital

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Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Aug 1, 2025	GoodShip	$25.0M Series B	—	Bessemer Venture Partners, Ironspring Ventures, Proeza Ventures, Jett McCandless
Jul 1, 2025	Flyhomes	$15.0M Series D	—	75 & Sunny, Battery Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Footwork, Norwest Venture Partners
May 1, 2025	CrediLinq.Ai	$9.0M Series A	—	1982 Ventures, 500 Startups, Airbus Ventures, Dream Ventures VC, MS&AD Ventures, Saxena Capital, VU Venture Partners
Aug 1, 2024	Time.fun	$3.0M Seed	—	Caffeinated Capital, Solana Ventures, Cory Levy
Jan 1, 2024	Cargado	$3.0M Seed	—	Dream Ventures VC, Ironspring Ventures, MS&AD Ventures, Proeza Ventures, S3 Ventures, Saxena Capital, Urban Innovation Fund, VU Venture Partners, Seth Goldstein
Dec 1, 2023	Mezcla	$4.0M Series A	—	Dream Ventures VC, MS&AD Ventures, Saxena Capital, VU Venture Partners
Apr 1, 2023	GoodShip	$5.0M Seed	—	Ironspring Ventures, Proeza Ventures
Jan 1, 2023	Paytient	$33.0M Series B	—	Amplify.LA, Bain Capital Ventures, Cultivation Capital, Expa, Ingeborg Investments, Kickstart Fund, LGF, Lightbank, Mercato Partners, Y Combinator, Frederic Kerrest, Stanley Druckenmiller
Apr 1, 2022	Newfront	$200.0M Series D	—	Kevin Hartz, Arrive, B Capital Group, Dreamers VC, Electric Capital, Founders Fund, Susa Ventures, Brian Barnes, Chad Nitschke, Eric Wu, Evan Moore, Lionel Richie, Peter Reinhardt, Tony Xu
Mar 1, 2022	Better & Better	$4.0M Venture Round	—	Arrive, Dreamers VC, Brian Barnes, Jaakko Salminen, Lionel Richie, Tony Xu, Tue Lumbye
Mar 1, 2022	Protégé	$9.0M Seed	—	Arrive, Atlantic Bridge University Fund, Bennu, Brand Foundry Ventures, Browder Capital, Dreamers VC, Eclipse Ventures, Flex Capital, Founder Collective, G20 Ventures, General Catalyst, Gigascale Capital, Greylock, Horizon 3 Venture Studio, Khosla Ventures, Mischief Venture Capital, Operator Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Pillar VC, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, Renegade Partners, Ribbit Capital, SciFi VC, Silicon Ventures, TenOneTen Ventures, Thirty Five Ventures, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Trammell Venture Partners, Aaron Levie, Alex Rigopulos, Amy Chang, Curtis Lee, Dylan Field, Elliot Shmukler, Eric Wei, Eric Wu, Gina Bianchini, Gokul Rajaram, Harris Barton, Hunter Horsley, Joshua Reeves, Karim Atiyeh, Lionel Richie, Mario Götze, Mark Pincus, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Scott Kleper, Sebastien Borget, Tony Xu, Venus Williams
Mar 1, 2022	Draftea	$4.0M Seed	—	Arrive, Dreamers VC, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Seven Seven Six, Anthony Saleh, Brian Barnes, Diego Berdakin, Eileen Murray, Jason Robins, Lionel Richie, Shane Battier, Tony Xu, Trevor Noah
Mar 1, 2022	Salad Technologies	$17.0M Series A	—	Accel, ENIAC Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Grotech Ventures, Kickstart Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Left Lane Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Moxxie Ventures, Next Play Ventures, Origin Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Marco DeMeireles, Tony Hawk
Feb 1, 2022	Ro	$150.0M Venture Round	—	Accel, Adverb Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Chloe Sladden, Basis Set Ventures, BITKRAFT Ventures, Bono, BoxGroup, Caffeinated Capital, Crosscut Ventures, Curie.Bio, Dig Ventures, Electric Capital, Emergence Capital, ENIAC Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Eric Rosenblum, Footwork, FTX Ventures, Gaingels, General Catalyst, Great Oaks Venture Capital, GSR Ventures, Hardware Club, Heretic Ventures, Highbury Group, Insight Partners, Kindred Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed China Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Madrona Ventures, Mayfield, Mischief Venture Capital, Moxxie Ventures, mParticle, NEO, Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, Next Play Ventures, Operator Partners, Origin Ventures, Outlander Labs, Portal Ventures, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, RSE Ventures, SciFi VC, Sequoia Capital, Seven Seven Six, SignalFire, Sound Ventures, South Park Commons, Stellar Capital, Summit Partners, TCG (The Chernin Group), The Finger Group, Y Combinator, Aaron Levie, Asher Leids, Ben Davenport, Bill Tai, Charlie Songhurst, Drew Houston, Eric Ries, Frederic Kerrest, Jon Gelsey, Julia Hartz, Scott Belsky, Spencer Slaine, Tony Hawk, Varsha Rao, Wyc Grousbeck
Oct 1, 2021	Resq	$39.0M Series A	—	75 & Sunny, Abstract Ventures, Acrew Capital, AirAngels, Alt Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Angel investor, Jana Messerschmidt, Arrive, Ascend Vietnam Ventures, Banana Capital, Basis Set Ventures, Battery Ventures, Bond, BoxGroup, Canvas Ventures, Cherry Ventures, Coatue, Craft Ventures, CRV, First Round Capital, Flex Capital, Footwork, Frontline Ventures, Fusion Fund, G2VP, General Catalyst, Homebrew, Inspired Capital, Kearny Jackson, Khosla Ventures, Kindred Ventures, KRM Interests LLC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Liquid 2 Ventures, Moving Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Hans Tung, Outcast Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Peterson Partners, Pioneer Fund, Polychain Capital, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Republic Records, RSE Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, SciFi VC, Seven Seven Six, Signum Capital, Soma Capital, SV Angel, The Hit Forge, Tiger Global Management, Vayner RSE, Venture Catalysts \| India's First Integrated Incubator, Wilshire Lane Capital, Wonder Ventures, Y Combinator, YLEM, Aaron Harris, Al Goldstein, Andre Iguodala, Arash Ferdowsi, Bernard Arnault, Brandon Leonardo, Charles Delingpole, Charlie Cheever, Charlie Songhurst, Claire Hughes Johnson, Darius Cheung, Demetrios Christofidis Jr, Douglas Carlisle, Frederic Kerrest, Gautam Gupta, Gokul Rajaram, Hanno Renner, Jason Lemkin, Jenna Hannon, Josh Mohrer, Julius Köhler, Karine Hsu, Katy Perry, Kristian Segerstrale, Kunal Shah, Louis Beryl, Luc Vincent, Manik Gupta, Manish Chandra, Mario Götze, Mathilde Collin, Max Mullen, Michael Ma, Michael Wax, Nick Jonas, Odell Beckham Jr., Rashaun Williams, Ron Pragides, Sahin Boydas, Scott Tannen, Stacy Brown-Philpot, Stelian Balta, Steve Aoki, Steve Chen, Theresa Johnson, Varsha Rao
Oct 1, 2021	vFunction	$26.0M Series A	—	Altaclub VC, Chicago Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Engineering Capital, Felicis Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, Zeev Capital, Zetta Venture Partners, Oren Dobronsky
Aug 1, 2021	Quake Media	$4.0M Seed	—	Altaclub VC, Chicago Ventures, Zeev Capital, Oren Dobronsky
Jul 1, 2021	Properly	$35.0M Series B	—	10100 fund, 75 & Sunny, Accel, Addition, AlleyCorp, Ardent Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Balderton Capital, Battery Ventures, Blossom Capital, Canvas Ventures, Cherubic Ventures, Citi Ventures, Expa, Felix Capital, Female Founders Fund, Footwork, Foundation Capital, General Catalyst, Gradient Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Harrison Metal, Hiro Capital, January Ventures, Jared Hecht, Moving Capital, NextView Ventures, NFX, Norwest Venture Partners, Nyca Partners, Oak HC/FT, Precursor Ventures, QED Investors, Rackhouse Venture Capital, Social Capital, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Sound Ventures, Speedinvest, SV Angel, XYZ Venture Capital, Aaron Levie, Adrian Aoun, Al Goldstein, Anthony Pompliano, Bart Swanson, Cristóbal Conde, Curtis Chambers, Dylan Field, Eddie Hartman, Gokul Rajaram, James Sherwin-Smith, Jenna Hannon, Jett McCandless, Kevin Lin, Saturnin Pugnet, Scott Belsky, Steve Chen, Vivek Patel
Jun 1, 2021	Unchained	$25.0M Series A	—	Mercato Partners
May 1, 2021	Pawp	$13.0M Series A	—	Accel, ENIAC Ventures, Geek Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Lego Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lux Capital, Moxxie Ventures, Next Play Ventures, Origin Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Marco DeMeireles, Volition Capital, Bradley Horowitz, Max Mullen, Tony Hawk
May 1, 2021	Liquid Death	$15.0M Series C	—	Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, DST Global, ENIAC Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Greycroft, Kleiner Perkins, Kli Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Moxxie Ventures, Next Play Ventures, Origin Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Marco DeMeireles, Wonder Ventures, Y Combinator, Andre Iguodala, Gokul Rajaram, Logan Paul, Ryan Tedder, Sean Rad
May 1, 2021	Flyhomes	$150.0M Series C	—	75 & Sunny, Afore Capital, Ascension Ventures, Battery Ventures, Camber Creek, Canvas Ventures, Footwork, Founders Fund, Kaszek Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, KRM Interests LLC, Latitud, LGF, Merus Capital, NFX, Norwest Venture Partners, Operator Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Renegade Partners, TQ Ventures, Y Combinator, Al Goldstein, David Vélez, Frederic Kerrest, Hadi Partovi, Jared Leto, Marc McCabe, Simon Borrero, Tom Williams, Tony Xu, Zachary Hargreaves
Apr 1, 2021	Echo AI	$25.0M Series B	—	Accel, Davidovs VC, ENIAC Ventures, First Round Capital, Floodgate, Great Oaks Venture Capital, M.G. Siegler, Insight Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Klossy, KRM Interests LLC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Moxxie Ventures, Next Play Ventures, Night Capital, Origin Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Point72 Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, SV Angel, Marco DeMeireles, Charlie Cheever, MG Siegler, Mike Krieger, Scott Belsky, Spencer Kimball, Tony Hawk
Mar 1, 2021	Act-On Software	$20.0M On Software - Venture Round	—	Brighton Park Capital, Madrona Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Proeza Ventures, Marco DeMeireles, Rick Lewis, U.S. Venture Partners, Voyager Capital
Feb 1, 2021	Unchained	$6.0M Seed	—	Mercato Partners

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Starting Line.

Leadership Team

Key people at Starting Line.

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Figma is a cloud-based collaborative design platform that enables real-time creation, prototyping, and iteration of user interfaces and digital products directly in a web browser. It serves designers, product managers, developers, and marketers by providing tools for UI flows, wireframes, interactive prototypes, and design systems, all accessible across multiple operating systems. Figma addresses the problem of disconnected, desktop-bound design tools by enabling seamless multiuser collaboration, which has become critical in the era of hybrid and remote work. Its product-led growth has propelled it to over 13 million users globally, with a market share exceeding 40% among design collaboration tools, including major clients like Airbnb, Microsoft, and Netflix[1][2][4].

Origin Story

Figma was founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace while they were computer science students at Brown University. Initially experimenting with various ideas, they settled on creating a web-based graphics editor to democratize creativity by making design tools free, simple, and accessible in a browser. The founders combined Field’s product vision and Wallace’s graphics expertise to build a platform that would transform how digital products are designed. Early traction came from a passionate community of designers who advocated for Figma’s collaborative approach, leading to steady growth and eventual enterprise adoption. The company has since evolved from a browser-based design tool to a comprehensive platform supporting design, prototyping, development, and collaborative workflows[1][2][4].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: N/A (Figma is a company, not an investment firm)
Product Differentiators:
Real-time collaboration enabling multiple users to work simultaneously on designs.
Cross-platform accessibility via web browsers and desktop apps for macOS and Windows.
Integrated modes for design, prototyping, and developer handoff.
Expanding ecosystem including FigJam (whiteboarding), Dev Mode, Sites (responsive website design), Make (AI-assisted app creation), and more.
Developer Experience: Dev Mode provides specs, annotations, and code snippets in one place, bridging design and development.
Speed, Pricing, Ease of Use: Cloud-based architecture allows instant updates and sharing without file transfers; product-led growth with free tiers encourages adoption.
Community Ecosystem: Open design files, community-built plugins, design critiques, and events foster a vibrant user community[1][2][3][4].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Figma rides the trend of remote and hybrid work accelerating the need for collaborative software tools. Its timing was crucial as traditional design software was desktop-bound and lacked real-time collaboration. Market forces such as the rise of digital product development, distributed teams, and demand for faster iteration cycles favor Figma’s cloud-native, collaborative approach. By uniting designers, developers, and other stakeholders on a single platform, Figma influences the broader ecosystem by setting new standards for how digital products are created, shared, and iterated globally. Its acquisition of AI startup Weavy and integration of AI-powered creative tools further position it at the forefront of innovation in design technology[1][2][4].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Figma’s future likely involves deepening AI integration to automate and accelerate design-to-code workflows, expanding its ecosystem of tools, and increasing enterprise adoption globally. Trends such as AI-assisted design, low-code/no-code development, and cross-functional collaboration will shape its journey. As digital experiences become more complex and teams more distributed, Figma’s influence as the connective tissue for product creation is expected to grow, potentially redefining the boundaries between design, development, and product management. Its continued innovation and community engagement will be key to maintaining its leadership in the collaborative design space[1][2][4].

Sources

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: N/A (Figma is a company, not an investment firm)
Product Differentiators:
Real-time collaboration enabling multiple users to work simultaneously on designs.
Cross-platform accessibility via web browsers and desktop apps for macOS and Windows.
Integrated modes for design, prototyping, and developer handoff.
Expanding ecosystem including FigJam (whiteboarding), Dev Mode, Sites (responsive website design), Make (AI-assisted app creation), and more.
Developer Experience: Dev Mode provides specs, annotations, and code snippets in one place, bridging design and development.
Speed, Pricing, Ease of Use: Cloud-based architecture allows instant updates and sharing without file transfers; product-led growth with free tiers encourages adoption.
Community Ecosystem: Open design files, community-built plugins, design critiques, and events foster a vibrant user community[1][2][3][4].