'We've Branded an Unbranded Industry': FIGS Co-CEOs Trina Spear and Heather Hasson on Their Epic IPO

Sarah Favot

Favot is an award-winning journalist and adjunct instructor at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She previously was an investigative and data reporter at national education news site The 74 and local news site LA School Report. She's also worked at the Los Angeles Daily News. She was a Livingston Award finalist in 2011 and holds a Master's degree in journalism from Boston University and BA from the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada.

FIGS co-founders ​Trina Spear and Heather Hasson
Courtesy of FIGS

Fashionable and comfortable medical scrub maker FIGS made history on multiple fronts when it made its Wall Street debut last month.

The Santa Monica company was likely the first led by two female CEOs and co-founders to go public; it was the first healthcare apparel company to go public, and it was the first company to make its IPO available on Robinhood.


And its performance beat expectations. Shares of FIGS jumped 36% to close at $30.02 after they priced at $22 each. They have since risen to $43.37 as of Thursday.

Co-CEOs and co-founders Trina Spear and Heather Hasson sat down with dot.LA to talk about how they went from selling their scrub sets out of their car in front of hospitals during shift changes to going public last month.

They discussed how the direct-to-consumer apparel company for health professionals surprised investors and how they wanted to make the IPO accessible to healthcare workers.

Courtesy of FIGS

Heather, you got the idea for FIGS after you had coffee with a friend who was a nurse practitioner and were horrified when you realized she was working 16-hour days wearing uncomfortable, unflattering scrubs. Scrubs seem like a big jump from the upscale handbag company you were running at the time. Why was it about that moment that made you think this could become a successful business?

Heather Hasson: Any entrepreneur doesn't think, 'Oh my God, this is gonna be a successful company,' you know. I think my lens was, what problems can I solve and how do I make this world better and how do I make this world a place where I want to live in.

Healthcare professionals are the most incredible people in the world and they don't have gear, they don't have clothing that can help them perform better. And also, direct-to-consumer, they should be able to order at 2, 3 o'clock in the morning when they need to. They need their uniform to go to work.

In the beginning, Trina and I, we were selling out of my car in front of hospitals during the shift change. At that moment, you realize people want FIGS, they want your stuff.

I really do, I wake up every single day thinking about healthcare professionals and how do we support them, how do we empower them, how do we celebrate them.

Where does the name FIGS come from?

HH: It's a very simple answer. It's my favorite fruit.

How big is your team? Why did you choose L.A. as your HQ?

Trina Spear: We have about 250 people. And why did we choose L.A.? Heather is from here, born and raised.

What was that moment like for you as the first female CEOs and first female co-founders company to go public?

TS: We really felt like the IPO, this milestone, wasn't so much about us. It was really about the community. Coming out of this pandemic and having this be almost a symbol of everything that our healthcare professionals went through. We had 12 healthcare professionals on the podium with us to ring the bell. We had 60 of our healthcare professionals at our IPO. This was a really amazing moment for this community that's been through so much and now it's kind of coming out of it and we really feel like we're the brand to support them and show up for them every single day.

You partnered with Robinhood which allowed retail investors to buy stock before the debut on the open market. Why?

TS: I think for us, back to our broader mission of supporting healthcare professionals, we really did want to give them an opportunity to invest pre-IPO and Robinhood enabled us to do that. Normally, being able to invest pre-IPO is very much a Wall Street insider-type of thing. By partnering with Robinhood, we were able to give access to FIGS stock, having equity in this company, to our most important people, the people we serve -- our healthcare professionals, so that's why we did it.

What will you be doing with their windfall? Could we expect to see them acquire other companies? Will you be growing your footprint in L.A. or elsewhere?

TS: The real investment that we're looking to make is in product. And the second area is in our community, our community is the brand, the brand is our community and so how do we continue to give to this community that's so deserving of something better. And then data and technology is a huge area for us. We have a really robust set of data and technology capability. And what that enables us to do is, at the heart of it, understand our customers better. The more data we have, the more we understand, the more we can serve and support. How do we deepen our connection with this community? Data and scalable data enables us to do that.

Some investors have eschewed direct-to-consumer brands in recent years, I'm thinking of the mattress startup Casper's "lackluster" IPO performance. FIGS on the other hand, stock surged 36% in its debut. Why should people invest in your company?

TS: There's a big difference between us and really every other company and the big difference is that we've been able to balance both growth and sustainable profitability. If you look at even last year, we grew 140% year-over-year and $263 million in net revenue. No one thought that was possible. Every investor we met, no one thought a direct-to-consumer company that has 98% of their sales online direct-to-consumer could grow 140% to $263 million, we did $318 million in revenue in the last 12 months as of the first quarter. Nobody thought that was possible.

Why have you been able to do this?

TS: All these companies are so focused on digital marketing and they put all the money into Facebook and all the money into Google and they hope to make a return on that investment. And as they scale, their customer acquisition cost goes up.

What we've proven is that as we scale, we've been able to decrease our customer acquisition cost by 61% over the last two years because we never were reliant on Facebook and Google digital marketing. We actually built the brand the right way. The way in which a Nike or a Lululemon or Adidas built their brand, with actual people loving the product and loving the brand, not based on how I figured out the algorithm on Facebook. This is a huge, huge shift from how people thought that digitally native direct-to-consumer companies should grow. Everyone thought 'how do you crack the code on Facebook's algorithm'. No, actually you build a community around a profession, you build relationships with real people, you build a brand people love, you build a product people come back over and over and over again to buy. That's the hard way to build a company and that's what we've done.

Courtesy of FIGS

It seems like this is a really niche market, do you have any plans to appeal to a wider customer base? Expand globally and into other uniform-wearing sectors?

TS: We actually don't view it as a niche market. I think many people do because they don't understand how many healthcare professionals there are, but this is a $12 billion industry in the United States. It's $79 billion globally and healthcare jobs are the fastest growing job segment in the country. We have a 2% market share in the U.S.

We think about our company as a lifestyle brand for the healthcare professional, so it's not just a top and a pant, it's also our under scrubs, our fleeces, our vests. We're outfitting healthcare professionals to work — at work, from work, head to toe, on shift and off shift. So it's all of these other things that we're doing and creating for our healthcare community and so we feel like we have a lot of runway, even just within the category that we're in.

At some point, we do feel like the uniform industry overall is broken and if there's any company that's going to disrupt that like we disrupted this industry bringing comfort and design and technical fabrication and functionality to the uniform industry overall, it would be FIGS, but you know, that is not in the near future.

Why should a medical professional buy FIGS? The price point is higher than other more traditional scrubs. On Amazon you can find a scrub top and scrub pants for $20 each, while your scrubs start at $38 for a top and $40 for pants. For lower-wage medical professionals like nursing assistants or medical students, this price point may be out of reach. Also, some might say that since you're going to be working in them every day and all the possible stains that may get on your scrubs, it's not worth it to buy high-end scrubs.

TS: If you look at our customer base, our customers make less than the average healthcare professional; 12% of our customers are students. Two-thirds of our customers make less than $100,000 a year and one-third, make less than $50,000 a year, within that two-thirds. So as much as we are a premium product, we are only about 15%-ish higher than the average scrub set. It's really important to us to serve all healthcare professionals and so really having an affordable, accessible product is one of core tenants here at FIGS that's really, really important.

You mentioned in your prospectus that it's a highly competitive market. How do you differentiate yourselves?

TS: The way in which the industry worked, is you had all these companies that were essentially licenses of other companies that sold to the retailer, and then the retailer sold to the end customer. But 85% of healthcare professionals buy their own uniforms.

We've branded an unbranded industry. And so what these companies really struggled with is that they didn't have that direct relationship [with the consumer]. They don't even know the names of their customer. The retailer is selling to the customer. That fundamental industry was broken, that structure was broken, that needed to be fixed and so that's what we've done.

We de-commoditized the commodity products, we went direct to consumer and then we built this community around this profession.

In 2020, FIGS had operating income of $57.9 million after a net operating loss of $300,000 in 2019. The 2020 active customer tally was 1.3 million, up from 600,000 in 2019. What was it about 2020 that made for such growth and profitability?

TS: This was happening prior to 2020. Essentially, we were profitable as of some point in 2019. But this is a trajectory that was long before COVID. We've grown the company every year by 100% year-over-year, so in terms of that following through to the bottom line, that was the trajectory we were on. It wasn't a COVID dynamic, if you will.

What do you keep in mind when you're designing products? Is it all about fashionability?

HH: it has to be really comfortable because you're in your scrubs for 16 hours sometimes 32 hours, so that is literally the design lens -- technical comfort. And we do not do anything that's not technical and super comfortable at the same time.

They're commuting to work, so they need a fleece, even a jacket over that and when they go to work, we're the first company to make jackets for the inside. We specifically make jackets for between 62 and 65 degrees. It's about the entire layering system. It's about what the healthcare professional wears 365, on the night shift, to and from work and when they wake up in the morning. That's never really been thought about and it should be because that's what healthcare professionals need.

Correction: An earlier this version of the story incorrectly referred to customer acquisition cost as cap. It was also updated to clarify the timeline in which FIGS raised $318M in revenue.

🚀 Inversion Secures $44 Million to Pioneer On-Demand Delivery from Space

🔦 Spotlight

Happy Friday, LA!

This week, Southern California's thriving space tech scene celebrated another milestone as Inversion, an El Segundo-based startup, announced a $44 million Series A funding round. The investment, co-led by Spark Capital and Adjacent, with participation from Kindred Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures and Y Combinator, underscores the growing appetite for innovative solutions in aerospace, logistics, and beyond. To date, they’ve raised $54 million, including a $10 million seed round in 2021. In September, they also secured a $71 million STRATFI agreement with the Space Force’s SpaceWERX to develop reentry vehicles for military applications, funded through a mix of government and private investment.

Image Source: Inversion

Inversion is pioneering a new frontier: reusable vehicles capable of rapidly returning payloads from orbit to Earth. Their "Earth Return Capsules" are designed to deliver within as little as an hour, enabling everything from rapid-turnaround experiments in microgravity to the delivery of critical medical supplies across the globe.

Building on this vision, a key focus for Inversion, as noted by SpaceNews, is the development of Arc, a reentry vehicle designed to provide "precision delivery on-demand" from space to Earth. With its first flight planned for 2026, the company is using the Series A funding to move Arc through its full product cycle, including design and development. This funding will also support Inversion's growth from its current 25 employees to a team of around 70, as well as their move into a new facility. Co-founder and CEO Justin Fiaschetti emphasized that the funding is sufficient to bring Arc through its inaugural flight.

Adding to the excitement, Inversion recently achieved a critical regulatory milestone in October by receiving a re-entry license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This license is a pivotal step in their journey, allowing the company to safely and legally return payloads from orbit to Earth. It positions Inversion among a select group of companies capable of operating in this emerging sector and demonstrates their readiness to bring the concept of space-based logistics into reality.

This isn’t just a win for Inversion—it’s a win for the Los Angeles aerospace ecosystem, which continues to attract top-tier talent and funding. With giants like SpaceX and Relativity Space already calling the region home, Inversion is further cementing LA’s status as the nation’s space tech hub.

As Southern California continues to lead the way in space innovation, Inversion is one to watch. Their vision for merging cutting-edge aerospace technology with real-world logistics solutions may not just change how we view space—it might transform how we interact with it.

Stay tuned for more updates from LA’s tech and startup scene. For now, keep your eyes on the skies—Inversion is bringing them closer to Earth.


🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

  • Seen Health, a company enhancing healthcare for seniors, has raised a $22M Series A funding round led by 8VC to support the opening of its first center in California and drive the development of the company’s technology. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
  • Theory Forge Ventures participated in a $30M Seed funding round for San Francisco-based Wordware, a startup developing a full-stack operating system for AI development that enables users to create sophisticated AI agents using natural language; the funds will be used to expand their platform and accelerate growth. - learn more
  • Clocktower Ventures participated in the most recent funding round for OpenYield, a New York-based company revolutionizing bond trading with its automated, equity-like marketplace, bringing the company's total funding to $7M to date. - learn more
  • Bonfire Ventures led a $4.25M Seed funding round for KeySavvy, a Seattle-based platform that simplifies and secures private-party car transactions; the funds will be used to expand their operations and engineering team, support new partnerships, enhance platform automation, and launch a fast-financing product for buyers. - learn more
  • Aliment Capital led a $42M Series C funding round for OneRail, an Orlando-based company specializing in last-mile delivery logistics software; the funds will be used to enhance their platform's capabilities and expand market reach. - learn more
  • UP.Partners led a $7M second-extension Series A funding round for Teleo, a Palo Alto-based company specializing in autonomous construction equipment; the funds will be used to expand their product offerings and accelerate market adoption. - learn more
  • Alexandria Venture Investments participated in a $30M Seed funding round for Valora Therapeutics, a San Diego-based biotechnology company developing novel immunotherapies using their proprietary AbLec platform; the funds will be used to advance their research and development efforts, optimize the platform, and progress AbLec therapeutics toward clinical trials. - learn more
  • Progression Fund participated in a $1.5M Pre-Seed funding round for GetMyHome, a Redondo Beach-based real estate service provider that offers a full rebate of seller-paid agent commission fees, charging clients a flat fee for the services they need, and employs agents who receive flat-fee compensation to help clients secure their dream homes without the incentive to push for overbidding. - learn more
  • Hyperlink Ventures participated in a $33M Series B funding round for Selector, a Santa Clara-based company specializing in AI-driven solutions that provide comprehensive visibility and intelligence for complex networks, infrastructure, and applications; the funds will be used to accelerate the development of their AIOps, Large Language Model (LLM), and Digital Twin technologies, as well as to expand their global presence. - learn more
  • Bonfire Ventures and Impulsum Venture Colab participated in a $5.25M Seed funding round for CalmWave, a Seattle-based health-tech startup specializing in reducing non-actionable ICU alarms to alleviate clinician fatigue; the funds will be used to boost market growth and expand partnerships with GPO channels like Premier, Inc. and Partners Coop. - learn more
  • Wavemaker 360 participated in a $14.5M Seed funding round for Citizen Health, a San Mateo, CA-based company with an AI-powered consumer health platform designed to support individuals managing rare and complex conditions; the funds will be used to enhance their platform and advance research in rare disease drug development. - learn more
  • B Capital led a $25M Series A funding round for Synapticure, a Chicago-based virtual care company specializing in neurodegenerative diseases; the funds will be used to expand partnerships, invest in technology, accelerate clinical research, and scale their medical group to enhance care for patients and caregivers nationwide. - learn more
  • Amboy Street Ventures and Emmeline Ventures participated in a $16M Series A funding round for Alloy, a New York-based menopause care startup that offers personalized treatments, including hormone therapy and symptom management, through telemedicine consultations and home delivery of medications. - learn more
  • Morpheus Ventures participated in a $28M Series A funding round for Goodstack, a SaaS and fintech platform that helps businesses integrate charitable giving, and the funds will be used to expand services for corporates, build technology for nonprofits, and hire across the team in 2025. - learn more
  • Trousdale Ventures participated in a Series B funding round for Anello Photonics, a Santa Clara, CA-based company specializing in silicon photonic optical gyroscopes (SiPhOG™); the funds will be used to improve navigation and positioning in GPS-denied environments for industrial and defense uses. - learn more
  • Cultivate Next participated in a $30M Series B funding round for Plantible Foods, a San Diego-based biotechnology company that creates sustainable, plant-based protein ingredients, starting with Rubi Protein™ from the aquatic plant Lemna, will use its investment to expand manufacturing at its first commercial plant, "The Ranchito," a 100-acre facility in West Texas. - learn more
  • Bonfire Ventures led a $4M Seed funding round for Mithrl, a San Francisco-based company providing an AI-powered platform to accelerate scientific research; the funds will be used to expand their go-to-market team and further develop the platform. - learn more
  • Upfront Ventures led a $15M Seed funding round for BrightAI, a San Francisco-based company specializing in AI-powered sensor technology for real-time monitoring across various industries; the funds will be used to enhance their technology and meet growing customer demand. - learn more

      LA Exits

      • Brainjolt, a Pasadena-based digital media company that creates and curates engaging content across various platforms and reaches millions of users monthly, has been acquired by Centerfield. - learn more

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              What’s New from Waymo 🚗 and Snapchat 👻

              🔦 Spotlight

              Happy Friday, LA!

              Image Source: Waymo

              In case you’ve been cooped up indoors or haven’t had a chance to leave the office this week, you might have missed the latest buzz—Waymo’s self-driving cars are now cruising all over LA! That’s right—Waymo One, the autonomous ride-hailing service, has officially expanded citywide, now covering nearly 80 square miles of Los Angeles. After months of testing and a waitlist, Angelenos can now book rides 24/7 in areas stretching from Santa Monica to Hollywood to the USC neighborhood. Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with passengers rating the service 4.7/5. Riders are praising the smooth, safe experience—making it a game-changer for getting around the city, whether it’s for work, errands, or leisure.

              Image Source: Snap

              Meanwhile, Snapchat is stepping up its game with new features in its Family Center designed to boost family safety and connectivity. Parents can now request their teens' live location on Snap Map, stay informed about their location-sharing settings, and set travel notifications to get alerts when family members arrive or depart from key locations like home or school. These updates give families more control and peace of mind in managing their digital interactions.


              🤝 Venture Deals

              LA Companies

              • Camouflet, an AI-driven platform specializing in real-time pricing optimization, has raised a $3M Seed funding round from private investors to enhance its services. - learn more
              • Chaos Industries, a defense tech company specializing in advanced detection and monitoring systems, raised a $145M Series B funding round led by Accel to accelerate its development of critical national security technologies. - learn more
              • Radiant, a company specializing in advanced nuclear microreactors, raised a $100M Series C funding round led by DCVC. The funds will be used to complete the Kaleidos Development Unit and conduct testing at Idaho National Laboratory's DOME facility, aiming to bring factory-built microreactors to market. - learn more
              • Mundial Media, a company focused on contextual marketing for multicultural audiences, raised a $1.5M Pre-Seed extension round led by new and existing investors, with the funds aimed at advancing their Cadmus AI technology and expanding digital advertising offerings. - learn more

              LA Venture Funds
              • Joyful Ventures participated in a seed funding round for Meatly, a UK-based company specializing in lab-grown pet food, though the exact amount raised has not been disclosed. - learn more
              • B Capital participated in a $200M Series C funding round for Writer, a full-stack generative AI platform that helps enterprises deploy secure and reliable AI solutions to address critical business challenges. - learn more
              • LFX Venture Partners participated in a US$30M Series C2 funding round for UniUni, a company transforming last-mile delivery for e-commerce through technology, and plans to use the capital to improve its platform and rapidly grow its operations. - learn more
              • Composition Capital participated in a $20M Series B funding round for Arbolus, an expert insights platform that connects investors and consultants with subject matter experts, to support Arbolus's expansion into the U.S. market - learn more
              • Type One Ventures co-led a Series A funding round for Lunar Outpost, a company specializing in lunar surface mobility, commercial space robotics, and space resources; the funds will support their active programs. - learn more
              • Trousdale Ventures participated in a $29M funding round for Starfish Space, a Seattle-based satellite servicing company that will use the funds to develop and launch its Otter spacecraft, designed to extend the operational life of satellites in geostationary orbit. - learn more
              • Plus Capital participated in a $20M Series A funding round for OneSkin, a San Francisco-based biotech company specializing in skin health treatments, with the funds aimed at expanding research, developing new formulas, and growing its presence in the anti-aging skincare industry. The company will also invest in its team and explore new sales channels. - learn more
              • Starshot Capital participated in a $10.5M Series A funding round for Ecolectro, a New York City-based green hydrogen company, to support the development of its scalable electrolyzer technology and make green hydrogen more accessible. - learn more
              • Navitas Capital participated in a $37M Series B funding round for SwiftConnect, a company that provides connected access solutions for buildings and spaces, to expand its network, scale operations, and support new product initiatives. - learn more
              • Griffin Gaming Partners led a €17M Seed funding round for BIT ODD, a Finnish gaming studio focused on creating mobile games that prioritize creativity and emotional depth over finance-driven metrics. - learn more
              • The K Fund participated in a $20M funding round for Homethrive, a caregiving solutions platform, and the funds will be used to help expand its AI-driven care navigation, improve personalized support, and enhance digital tools to increase engagement across various payer populations. - learn more

                    LA Exits

                    • Farm Dog, a Los Angeles-based company that provides a platform with tools to help agronomists streamline their work—offering features for field scouting, document management, and data integration to enhance productivity in agriculture—has been acquired by FarmQA. - learn more

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                            Wonder Dynamics: Redefining the Animation Landscape
                            Wonder Animation

                            🔦 Spotlight

                            Happy Friday, LA!

                            Wonder Dynamics, a Los Angeles-based company founded by Tye Sheridan and Nikola Todorovic, has launched Wonder Animation, a beta feature that is poised to transform the landscape of video production. Acquired by Autodesk in May, Wonder Dynamics is leveraging this innovative tool, which harnesses artificial intelligence to turn standard video footage into captivating 3D animated scenes, making sophisticated animation techniques more accessible to filmmakers of all budgets.

                            Wonder Animation allows creators to shoot from multiple angles, with the AI reconstructing these shots into a dynamic 3D space. This functionality enables filmmakers to seamlessly blend live-action scenes with interactive virtual environments while preserving original camera movements. Users can customize various aspects, including animations, characters, lighting, and camera tracking data, and the tool integrates smoothly with popular software like Maya, Blender, and Unreal Engine.

                            What sets Wonder Animation apart is its emphasis on artistic control. Unlike many AI tools that impose rigid outcomes, this feature empowers creators to guide their projects, ensuring that their unique style remains front and center.

                            As the boundary between video and 3D animation blurs, Wonder Animation invites creators to experiment and innovate in exciting ways. This development marks a significant step forward in digital storytelling, democratizing access to high-quality visual effects and making sophisticated animation achievable for a broader range of filmmakers.

                            With the global animation market projected to reach approximately $400 billion in 2024 and grow to over $587 billion by 2030—reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 5%—tools like Wonder Animation are more relevant than ever. This growth underscores the increasing demand for animated content and highlights the necessity of innovative solutions to meet filmmakers’ evolving needs. For those looking to elevate their storytelling, Wonder Animation may just be the key to unlocking new creative horizons. According to Statista, this upward trend in the animation market emphasizes the significant opportunities ahead.


                            🤝 Venture Deals

                            LA Companies

                            • Evite, an online platform enabling users to design, send, and manage digital invitations and eCards with tools for event organization and guest tracking, has received a strategic growth investment from Francisco Partners to accelerate innovation and expand its product offerings. - learn more
                            LA Venture Funds
                            • F4 Fund participated in a $4.1M Pre-Seed funding round for Further, a platform designed to help first-time homebuyers determine how much home they can afford by providing personalized insights on interest rates and lender requirements, giving users a clear view of their purchasing power. - learn more
                            • Alexandria Venture Investments participated in a $10M Seed funding round for CrossBridge Bio, a company focused on developing advanced dual-payload antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapies, with the funds supporting preclinical development of its next-generation cancer treatments. - learn more
                            • Clocktower Ventures participated in a $5.6M Series A funding round for Morada Uno, a startup in Mexico focused on making apartment rentals easier by providing a platform that connects tenants with landlords and simplifies processes like lease agreements and rent payments. - learn more
                            • Skyview Capital participated in a $5M Series A funding round for Web3 chain game A-World, a tower defense battle game set in the metaverse on the BNB Chain, where players build hero towers to defeat waves of monsters. - learn more

                                LA Exits

                                • Drive Hospitality, a leading provider of personalized parking and hospitality services, including valet, concierge, bell services, parking management, and advanced technology integration, has been acquired by Propark Mobility. - learn more
                                • Vebu Labs, located in El Segundo and specializing in custom automation solutions for the food industry—including the innovative 'Autocado' system that automates the peeling, coring, and scooping of avocados to enhance operational efficiency—will be acquired by Serve Robotics. - learn more

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