Design Startup InVision, Once Valued at $2B, Is Shutting Down

Design startup InVision, once valued at $2 billion, is shutting down at the end of this year, according to a company blog post Thursday. The business had raised more than $350 million from investors including Goldman Sachs and Spark Capital. From a report: Once a market leader in collaborative design software, InVision's business spiraled after rival firm Figma's product surged in popularity, snatching away its customers, The Information previously reported. InVision's revenue fell by half to $50 million in 2022, pushing it to sell its core business line to Miro, a competitor building digital whiteboards last fall.

Cookies crumble

[sinkskinkshrieks]

With the way VC works with niche startups: some new categories are important and have big money potential, but are easily-satiated, limited demand with the acquisition of 1 or 2 startups because there were only 1 or 2 potential buyers to begin with. Once that demand has been satisfied, the value of the remaining competitors drops precipitously to an "undisclosed sum" (fire sale).

Too expensiver, too proprietary, ...

[Qbertino]

... too insecure in the long term.

As a web developer I was the target audience for InVision and couldn't be bothered getting a subscription. The entire thing was one big everything-and-the-kitchensink subscription lock-in fest, with strong and alarming Adobe-vibes. Which is why it got a big fat nope from many designers and dev teams.

Penpot is a FOSS screen design solution that does everything I need and then some. With that, Inkscape and Gimp there is nothing these online tools can offer that would justify their prices.

Re:

[organgtool]

Penpot is a FOSS screen design solution that does everything I need and then some. With that, Inkscape and Gimp there is nothing these online tools can offer that would justify their prices.

The designers at the company I work for rely pretty heavily on the ability to collaborate via online projects. They've used native apps extensively before but they seem to prefer the online capabilities of Figma, and prior to that InVision. I have no idea if it's truly worth the cost, and if you're working alone then

They sold Freehand to Miro

[k1down]

They sold Freehand to Miro. It's right in the email they sent. I was under the impression that invision didn't tank so much as pivot, sell, and now gtfo

Good

[stikves]

We usually tend to forget about "creative destruction" of free markets.

They failed to achieve their goals, and their resources are now going to be used at more efficient endeavors.

And just to balance Figma stayed independent, as Adobe was not allowed to gobble them up (that too would be inefficient as well).