US app design and collaboration software start-up Figma has filed to go public despite the IPO market being in a state of paralysis due to threats of tariffs.

Figma’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) represents a resurgence of interest with the collapse of an earlier deal to sell its business to Adobe.

Figma employees around 1600 staff and was valued around $US12.5bn in 2024. It is yet to disclose details of the float.

“The number of shares and the price range for a potential public offering have not yet been determined,” Figma says in a regulatory notice on its website.

“Any future offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or sales of securities will be made following the SEC’s completion of its review process, in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act.”

Figma, which produces software that’s used for designing websites and applications, has recently been touting the value of its “Figma for Government” initiative around digitising public services across US government agencies.

“Today, more than 100 (US) government agencies and contractors use Figma to modernize their processes, from brainstorming concepts, to iterating on and prototyping designs, to implementing and refining the final product.”

Figma may escape the wrath of Trump’s tariffs – its San Francisco based and may not rely on overseas coders for development.

However, the IPO finance industry is reported to be in turmoil with bankers facing “paralysis” due to the volatility of Trump tariffs.

Bloomberg reports that bankers are trying to game which US IPO’s can recover in the wake of President Donald Trump’s off and on tariff pronouncements.

It quotes a “sense of paralysis” as noted by JPMorgan Chase & Co’s head of Americas equity capital markets Keith Canton.

“The processes we’re working on are very firmly on pause for the immediate term, and our message to issuers is to be ready, be prepared and we’ll evaluate week by week and day by day, but we need to see things settle down first,” Mr Canton told Bloomberg.