27 comments

  • Pablo StanleyPablo Stanley, over 7 years ago (edited over 7 years ago )

    However you see it, this is great news for the design community in general. InVision has done a lot of non-scalable but significant things that benefit the community; they've given a voice to the design teams of different companies and let them share how they're solving modern design problems (yeah, of course, it's also editorial marketing, but I don't mind it when it's done this way). InVision having this backing will allow them to continue investing in things like the Craft Plugin, prototype, and motion (can't wait to try this tool!). They also hired Aarron Walter to create a new division focused on design education, I wonder what their plans are on that... I mean, they made a freaking movie about designers! No matter how you want to view this, you have to admit that they're doing their best to see our community thrive; it's in their best interest. I really look forward to seeing how they invest this new funding. Make it rain!

    26 points
  • Raffaello SanzioRaffaello Sanzio, over 7 years ago

    Well, time to come up with a Sketch plugin and wait for InVision to make me an offer.

    22 points
  • Thompson GeorgeThompson George, over 7 years ago

    Why do they STILL need funding?

    6 points
    • Ix TechauIx Techau, over 7 years ago

      Money is cool, mmmkey?

      7 points
    • Rebecca T, over 7 years ago

      Hey, if I was offered 55M, I'd take it. Especially when invision has a great business plan & prospective future going so far.

      2 points
      • Thompson GeorgeThompson George, over 7 years ago

        If they had a great business plan they wouldn't need investors.

        It'd be better to run a profitable business on money they earn.

        5 points
        • Andy StoneAndy Stone, over 7 years ago

          I'm sorry, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Scaling and building large-scale products for individuals and enterprises is incredibly difficult, time consuming and costly.

          Airbnb, Uber and Dropbox all have very interesting businesses and products. They've had to raise incredibly-large rounds to make sure that everyone out there understands this concept. My mom just learned about Airbnb this year, but reaching her is a huge turning point for the company—it means that it is a service that will be used and understood outside of the tech bubble.

          For Invision to become the next Adobe (not perfect comparison, but using it for the idea of market penetration), it needs to play catch up. It needs to be in every major enterprise along with on the small design teams. For a B2B company like Invision, they aren't going to go public from $25/month plans with small teams—they need many $10k/month plans with Coke, Apple, etc.

          12 points
          • Thompson GeorgeThompson George, over 7 years ago

            What concept is there to understand? It's a prototyping feedback tool that sold to the some of the most tech-savvy individuals.

            Also, you don't need to spend money to sell your product to Coke, Apple. Unless they want something custom.

            2 points
            • Jari Sanders, over 7 years ago

              What about https://www.invisionapp.com/enterprise ?

              I assume you mean you don't need take money from external parties in order to be able to sell your product to big corporations. You're right, you could do it without it but I can assure you with a team of investors like they have it gets a hell of a lot easier.

              0 points
              • Andy StoneAndy Stone, over 7 years ago

                Jari hits it right on the head. Coke and Apple aren't going to buy from a small company where they're not sure if the company will be around in 1 (or even 5) years. "Big buys from big" as they say.

                Also, for the "it's a prototyping feedback tool" argument: that's what they currently are. One of the reasons to raise such a large fund is to become bigger and better than what we know them as today. In the 90s, Apple was a "personal computing" company—that brand is now a small subset of what they do as an overall entity.

                0 points
          • Cory W.Cory W., over 7 years ago

            Sure, but: https://youtu.be/mAOyOULWKUo

            1 point
        • Scott Johnson, over 7 years ago

          Your comment demonstrates breathtaking ignorance of how to scale a high growth technology startup.

          0 points
          • Thompson GeorgeThompson George, over 7 years ago

            Your portfolio looks like garb.

            0 points
            • Scott Johnson, over 7 years ago

              Hahaha! Oh no my ego!!!!!

              0 points
              • Thompson GeorgeThompson George, over 7 years ago

                How many "high-growth technology startups" have you started up, Scott?

                0 points
                • Scott Johnson, over 7 years ago (edited over 7 years ago )

                  I've helped start 2 companies. One died after we burnt through nearly $100k in seed money and couldn't continue development. The other still exists and has raised over seven figures in seed and angel money. Admittedly my experiences can't exactly be benchmarked against the likes of an Uber, but what I've learned through connections, self-study, and real world experiences have been more than enough to confidently call out trollish, uninformed internet comments.

                  Every single large successful tech company (FB, Twitter, Google, Uber, Slack, Twilio, etc..) has taken multiple rounds of investment totaling billions of dollars.

                  Here are some suggested reading materials if you're genuinely interested in learning more about startups and why it might make sense for companies like InVision to raise large sums after they seemingly "don't need it." https://bothsidesofthetable.com/http://www.paulgraham.com/http://blog.samaltman.com/http://a16z.com/advice-and-how-to/

                  1 point
      • Raffaello SanzioRaffaello Sanzio, over 7 years ago

        if I was offered 55M, I'd take it

        Without knowing the conditions of the deal?

        The problem with taking this kind of money is that usually the investors are the ones who end up taking over the reins of the company, especially when the conditions say that the company needed to return X% after certain time. Investors want their money back... with interests.

        Having a great plan and a prospective future don't guarantee success. Like any other investment, the risk of losing exists.

        Have you ever heard of LayerVault? :)

        6 points
  • Florian GrauFlorian Grau, over 7 years ago

    I'm surprised by the valuation: Last year 45, now 55 million? I'm a customer myself, love the product and all the work they do. They really push design further but still seem to have a solid business plan/case.

    But what's in it for the investors? I have no idea what their monthly revenue is, but paying back >100 million doesn't seem very likely within some years. So I imagine only a big exit could pay the money back. However, Invision doesn't strike me as a prime candidate for something like that?

    1 point