Dylan Field
About Dylan Field
Dylan Field co-founded Figma in 2012 with Evan Wallace and has been its CEO since then. In April 2025 he also became chair of the board. He is based in Penngrove, California, where he grew up. Before Figma he held roles at O'Reilly Media, Microsoft Research, LinkedIn and Flipboard.
He studied math and computer science at Brown University for about two and a half years. He left in 2012 to take a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship, which required him to leave school and work on his company full time.
Figma is a browser-based, collaborative design tool. Adobe agreed in 2022 to buy it for about $20 billion. Regulators blocked the deal, Adobe abandoned it in late 2023, and Figma received a $1 billion breakup fee. Figma then listed on the NYSE in July 2025. Crunchbase lists Figma as the only company he has founded.
Crunchbase counts 49 investments for Dylan Field. It lists no lead investments and no exits. It does not show how many portfolio companies he has. Other data providers count more deals, and their totals differ from each other. Dealroom, for example, tracks 101 portfolio companies and 127 investments. Treat these as rough counts, since angel deals are often disclosed only in part.
Press and portfolio coverage names several early-stage and growth-stage companies he has backed as an angel. These include OpenSea, which was founded by a Brown friend, Devin Finzer, as well as Loom, Warp and Netlify. Dealroom lists Polymarket, Baseten, Etched, Mercury, Persona, Linear and Owner among his larger current holdings.
PitchBook also lists him as an advisor to Gimlet Labs, Roam, CodeSandbox and PlayerZero. Several of those are developer-focused companies.
Crunchbase shows 21 AI investments by Dylan Field since 2023. Its AI portfolio list includes Zed Industries, PlayerZero, Owner, EarnBetter, Huxe, Perplexity, BRINC Drones, SPREAD AI, Gimlet Labs, Warp, HeyGen and Replicate.
In April 2024 he took part in Perplexity's roughly $63 million round, which valued the AI search company at more than $1 billion. Daniel Gross led that round. Crunchbase's activity feed also shows him in a BRINC Drones round in January 2025 and in a Zed Industries round in 2024.
Field has also spoken publicly about AI in his work at Figma. In a 2026 interview with Stratechery he discussed design and AI, including bringing code onto the canvas and acquiring AI-native companies.
Dylan Field invests as an individual angel, and Crunchbase lists no lead investments. His profile on NFX Signal lists an investment range of $10K to $500K. That figure comes from the profile itself and is not a statement from Field, so confirm it directly. NFX Signal also lists his areas as Web3 and blockchain, AI, developer tools, media and content, enterprise, and fintech. Third-party profiles describe seed-stage enterprise software and fintech as his main concentration, but he has not published a formal thesis that we found.
His recent portfolio leans toward developer tools and AI infrastructure and applications. Examples are Zed Industries, Warp, Replicate, Baseten and PlayerZero. A Tracxn profile lists activity in the United States and the United Kingdom among other countries. We did not find a public statement from Field on what he looks for in pitches. Founders can look at the products he has backed and at how he describes his own work at Figma, which centers on product quality and craft.
- Perplexity: AI answer engine. Field joined its roughly $63 million round in April 2024.
- Zed Industries: code editor company. Listed in Crunchbase's AI portfolio, with a round that includes him in 2024.
- Warp: AI-enabled terminal for developers. Field is named as an early angel investor in press profiles.
- Replicate: platform for running and hosting machine learning models. Listed in his Crunchbase AI portfolio.
- HeyGen: AI video generation company. Listed in his Crunchbase AI portfolio.
- BRINC Drones: public safety drone maker. Crunchbase shows a round with him in January 2025.
- PlayerZero: AI software quality company. Listed in his AI portfolio, and PitchBook lists him as an advisor.
- Gimlet Labs: Listed in his AI portfolio, and PitchBook lists him as an advisor.
- OpenSea: NFT marketplace founded by his Brown friend Devin Finzer.
- Netlify and Loom: developer and workplace software companies named in press as angel investments.
- crunchbase.com/person/54e6b91c-bca3-4b98-61f0-d33bcd359a3e
- crunchbase.com/person/dylan-field/person_overview_investor/timeline
- linkedin.com/in/dylanfield
- signal.nfx.com/investors/dylan-field
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/224513-92
- dealroom.co/investors/dylan-field
- siliconangle.com/2024/04/23/perplexity-ai-lands-63m-funding-generative
- thekeyexecutives.com/2025/01/07/dylan-field-steers-figmas-journey-from
AI portfolio
Investing activity
Dylan Field has made 49 investments according to Crunchbase. 21 of those investments since 2023 were in AI companies, including Zed Industries, PlayerZero, Owner, EarnBetter and Huxe.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Dylan Field
Does Dylan Field invest in AI startups?
Yes. Crunchbase shows 21 AI investments since 2023, including Perplexity, Zed Industries, Warp, HeyGen, Replicate and Gimlet Labs.
What is Dylan Field's check size?
He has not stated a check size publicly that we found. NFX Signal lists an investment range of $10K to $500K, but that is a profile listing and not a statement from him.
What stage does Dylan Field invest in?
Third-party profiles place his angel activity mostly at seed and early stages. Some of his listed rounds are later, such as Series B deals, so he is not limited to the earliest stage.
Does Dylan Field lead rounds?
Crunchbase lists 0 lead investments for him, so he typically joins rounds led by others. Perplexity's April 2024 round, which Daniel Gross led, is one example.
What companies has Dylan Field built?
He co-founded Figma in 2012 and is its CEO and board chair. Figma went public on the NYSE in July 2025.
How should founders approach Dylan Field about a pitch?
We did not find a public pitch process for him. His LinkedIn profile is the only verified contact route we have. A warm intro from a mutual founder or investor is likely to work better than a cold message.
Is Dylan Field an angel investor?
Yes. Dylan Field invests personally as an angel. Crunchbase counts 49 investments.
What AI companies has Dylan Field invested in?
Dylan Field's AI investments include Zed Industries, PlayerZero, Owner, EarnBetter, Huxe, Perplexity, BRINC Drones and SPREAD AI.
Where is Dylan Field based?
Dylan Field is based in Penngrove, United States.
How can founders reach Dylan Field?
Founders on Lounge can see Dylan Field's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Dylan Field to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.