Figma Expands with Bud Buyout

Global design platform Figma is moving beyond its traditional focus on design as it seeks to broaden its ecosystem by integrating artificial intelligence and bringing coding and prototyping closer to its core design canvas. As part of that strategy, the company has acquired the team behind the popular vibe-coding and AI agent platform Bud.

Confirming the acquisition, Bud Chief Executive Officer Kevin Lu wrote on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), "Figma is one of the best and most influential product companies of our time, and they are uniquely positioned to seize the opportunities of this new era. Figma is where ideas are born, iterated on, and brought to life. In this exciting new era of work, it is the perfect home for our team."

Backed by renowned startup accelerator Y Combinator, the startup originally launched as a vibe-coding platform that enabled users to easily build applications for mobile devices, the web, Slack and browsers. It later rebranded as Bud and evolved into a powerful AI agent platform capable of browsing the internet, interacting with online services and autonomously writing code to complete complex tasks.

As part of the acquisition agreement, Bud will permanently shut down both its Bud and Orchids platforms by July 18. Users have been advised to migrate their ongoing projects before the deadline. Earlier this year, the BBC, citing a security researcher, reported that applications built on the Orchids platform were vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Although Figma has not disclosed the specific role the newly acquired team will play, the company's recent product launches suggest a clear direction. Rather than limiting users to static design concepts, Figma aims to provide more advanced tools that enable users to build functional applications and interactive prototypes directly within its platform. Last year, the company introduced Figma Make for web application development. This year, it expanded its capabilities by integrating advanced coding tools such as Codex and Claude Code, while also launching its own AI agent.

//DBTech/BMT/OR//