The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Strategic decision · 2021–2025
Payload's dev-first open-source CMS bet lands in Figma's hands
Three Grand Rapids devs bet engineers want a code-first, open-source CMS; after $4.7M and 35k+ GitHub stars, Figma bought it in 2025.
Payload
What the business is
Payload is an open-source headless CMS and application framework built in TypeScript and React, where developers define content in code and get a database, REST/GraphQL APIs, authentication and an admin panel out of the box.
Starting capital：$4.7M seed (announced Nov 2022), led by Gradient Ventures with MongoDB Ventures, Y Combinator, SV Angel, Grand Ventures and Exceptional Capital; the company was bootstrapped before that.
How it started
James Mikrut, Dan Ribbens and Elliot DeNolf started Payload in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and bootstrapped it from 2021 on a contrarian reading of the CMS market. 'To devs, content management system is usually a swear word. If an engineer gets assigned a CMS project, it's less than thrilling,' Mikrut told TechCrunch. The team went in the opposite direction of no-code tools: version 1.0 shipped in early 2022 as a code-first headless CMS and application framework.
What happened
After 1.0, Payload raised a $4.7M seed led by Google's Gradient Ventures in November 2022 (announced during its first launch week), with investors including MongoDB Ventures and Y Combinator. In 2024 the project added native Next.js support, and by September 2025 Cloudflare counted over 35,000 GitHub stars and was running Cloudflare TV's content operation on Payload. When the team went out for a Series A in 2025, Figma offered an acquisition instead: 'Payload was actively raising a Series A... Figma has officially bought Payload,' Mikrut said on Syntax.fm.
How it ended up
In June 2025 the entire Payload team joined Figma in an acquisition announced on Figma's blog and the Payload GitHub. Payload remains open source under Figma, is used by several Fortune 100 companies, and is the developer-side backend behind Figma's CMS plans for Figma Sites.
Background
Payload, founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan by James Mikrut, Dan Ribbens and Elliot DeNolf, is an open-source headless CMS and application framework built in TypeScript and React. Instead of another no-code panel for marketers, developers define content types and schemas in code, and Payload generates a database, REST and GraphQL APIs, authentication, access control and an admin interface.
The bet was that engineers were the neglected buyer. 'To devs, content management system is usually a swear word,' CEO James Mikrut told TechCrunch when the company announced its $4.7M seed in November 2022, led by Google's Gradient Ventures with MongoDB Ventures, Y Combinator, SV Angel and Grand Ventures participating. Payload had been bootstrapped since 2021 and shipped version 1.0 earlier that year, then used the round to grow the team and the open-source community around Payload Cloud, its managed-hosting monetization layer.
Adoption grew through the open-source project: Cloudflare counted over 35,000 GitHub stars by September 2025 and ran Cloudflare TV's 2,000-plus-episode, 70,000-asset content library on Payload, while Figma noted that several Fortune 100 companies already used it. In 2024 Payload added native Next.js support, turning a Node/Express CMS into a full-stack framework for the modern JavaScript stack.
In June 2025, while actively raising a Series A, Payload was acquired by Figma instead: the whole team joined Figma, where Payload powers the developer backend for Figma's CMS plans around Figma Sites, and the product remains open source. The exit validated the contrarian wedge - build for developers first, keep the core free, and the community plus enterprise adoption become the asset a bigger platform wants.
What has to be true
- Developers were the ignored CMS buyer: products sold ease to non-coders while forcing engineers into rigid closed panels, so a code-first TypeScript CMS fit the person actually building.
- Open source removed the trust objection: teams could read, extend and self-host the tool, letting adoption spread before the company had any enterprise sales motion.
- Framing Payload as an app framework, not just a CMS, widened the market to internal tools and application backends - a bigger total addressable market than content publishing.
- Open core plus managed hosting gave a free product a revenue answer, and the community itself became the strategic asset that made Figma buy the team rather than build its own backend.
What can be applied
When incumbents sell CMS ease to non-coders, the ignored buyer is the engineer maintaining it: build a tool developers can own, and the open-source community becomes an acquisition-grade asset.
Aftermath
As of 2026-08-24 Payload runs inside Figma: the June 2025 acquisition keeps the product open source, the founders still lead it, and Payload is the developer-side foundation for Figma's CMS plans around Figma Sites. Cloudflare's September 2025 post counted 35,000+ GitHub stars and documented running Cloudflare TV on Payload, and Exploding Topics' August 2026 list still ranked Payload CMS #83 with +3,100% search growth. The open question is how much stays free now that the project's future is tied to a commercial design platform.
Sources
- Payload raises $4.7M for its developer-first headless CMS
- Transcript: Why did Figma buy a CMS? - Syntax #912
- Payload on Workers: a full-fledged CMS, running entirely on Cloudflare's stack
- Top Trending Topics (Aug 2026)
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