Quick Facts
- Figma acquired the team behind Bud, formerly Orchids, in a strategic acquihire valued at a reported low-eight-figure equity package.
- Bud and Orchids will shut down July 18, 2026; a data export tool launched July 8 to help users migrate projects.
- FIG stock rose 5.27% to $22.19 on the news as Figma expands from design into AI-assisted development.
Figma has acquired the team behind Bud, a Y Combinator-backed vibe-coding and AI agent platform formerly known as Orchids. Financial terms were not disclosed, though insiders reported a low-eight-figure equity package. The deal closed July 7, 2026.
Figma characterized the transaction as an acquihire focused on talent and research rather than existing code. Both the Bud and Orchids products will shut down July 18. Users received access to a data export tool on July 8.
What Bud Built
Orchids launched in 2025 as a natural language app builder letting users create applications for web, mobile, Slack, and browsers. The startup later rebranded as Bud and shifted toward AI agents capable of browsing the web, writing code, and automating workflows. At its peak, Orchids claimed 1 million users and listed Google, Uber, and Amazon as customers. The company has fewer than 10 employees.
Bud CEO Kevin Lu posted on X after the deal: “Figma is one of, if not the, defining product companies of our time to capitalize on this. It’s where ideas start, iterate, and come to life, and a natural home for this exciting new era of work.”
Where Figma Is Heading
The acquisition is Figma’s most aggressive move into development tooling since its failed $20 billion Adobe deal collapsed under regulatory scrutiny. Without that merger, the company has been building and buying its way into AI-assisted product creation.
Earlier this year, Figma launched an AI-powered design agent that generates and edits interfaces inside its canvas. The company also opened the platform to external AI coding agents through Model Context Protocol, allowing tools like Claude Code and OpenAI Codex to interact directly with Figma files. Its prompt-based tool Figma Make converts ideas into working web applications.
Adding the Bud team deepens that push. If designers can prototype and generate production code inside Figma, teams may need fewer separate tools, a direct challenge to platforms like Webflow and traditional code editors.
The Security Baggage
The deal comes with a notable asterisk. Cybersecurity researcher Etizaz Mohsin disclosed a zero-click vulnerability in Orchids that allowed access to a BBC journalist’s project and potentially full control of the reporter’s computer. The flaw was not patched at the time of reporting, and Mohsin said the company took weeks to respond to his warnings.
Kevin Curran, professor of cybersecurity at Ulster University, offered a broader warning: “The main security implications of vibe-coding are that without discipline, documentation, and review, such code often fails under attack.” Figma has not specified how it will address the prior vulnerabilities or how it plans to deploy the acquired team.
What the Numbers Say
Figma’s State of the Designer 2026 report surveyed 906 designers globally. It found 72% now use generative AI tools and 98% increased their AI usage compared to the prior year. Designers who actively use AI tools are 25% more likely to report job satisfaction. Those numbers reinforce why Figma is moving fast.
FIG shares closed at $22.19 on the day of the announcement, up 5.27%, before slipping 0.18% in after-hours trading.
Read more: Figma acquires team behind a vibe-coding app
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