Image: © amenic181/Stock.adobe.com
Users will be able to access their InVision accounts until 31 December 2024.
New-York based start-up InVision has announced that it’s shutting down its platform at the end of this year.
In a blogpost, CEO Michael Shenkman said the company’s primary focus is making the transition as smooth as possible.
“On behalf of all InVisioners, I want to convey our appreciation for the trust and support you’ve shown us. Your commitment to InVision has been our heartbeat for the last 12 years and we are genuinely thankful for the privilege of being part of your creative process,” he said.
The UX design player, which was founded in 2011, was valued at $2bn at the height of its success and seen as a challenger start-up to design giant Adobe.
InVision began as a prototyping tool for designers and was used for design collaboration. It enjoyed steadily increasing success through funding rounds since it was founded, starting with $1.5m in its first year, receiving $45m in funding in 2015 and raising $100m in 2017, giving it unicorn status with a valuation of $1bn. The following year, InVision hit another milestone, raising $115m and doubling its valuation.
Falling out of favour
But while InVision was riding high, the design industry was shifting and another player had risen the ranks.
Figma, which saw its public release in 2016, brought UI design and prototyping together. The company raised $50m in 2020 in a Series D funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. At the time, Figma reported that this brought the company’s valuation to $2bn.
In order to compete in the more holistic design industry that brought prototyping and UI design together, InVision launched Freehand, a virtual workboard system created to bring teams together.
But Figma had already overtaken InVision in the eyes of the industry and by 2022 it had scored a landmark deal when Adobe agreed to acquire the start-up for $20bn. The deal faced scrutiny from competition authorities around the world and the acquisition fell apart late last year, but this didn’t save InVision.
One tool that will be spared from the shutdown is Freehand, which was snapped up by collaboration platform Miro at the end of 2023. While the current version of the tool will wind down with the rest of the platform, the company said users will start seeing elements of Freehand show up in Miro as early as this quarter with all major enhancements completed by summer 2024.
Jeff Chow, chief product and technology officer at Miro, also said it’s honouring users’ Freehand subscriptions by allowing them to use Miro at no extra cost. “We’ll also provide data migration services so that you can continue the work you started on Freehand in Miro.”
InVision users are being encouraged to switch to another tool for new projects as quickly as possible and export anything they want to keep as all documents including prototypes, Freehands, boards and other assets will be deleted shortly after the shutdown date of 31 December 2024.
“We’re so grateful to all of you who invested time and energy into making InVision the incredible company that it’s grown to be. Together we reimagined how designers collaborate, raised the importance of design thinking, and, in the process, helped revolutionise the design industry,” said Shenkman.
“We close this chapter with heartfelt gratitude and with the comfort that the state of the design industry is stronger than ever, leaving the InVision community in good hands.”
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