A London Startup Is Changing How Designers and Developers Work Together
A London Startup Is Changing How Designers and Developers Work Together
A London-based company called Dessn has raised $6 million in funding for a new tool that lets designers and software developers work in the same place, according to TechCrunch. The two-year-old startup was founded by Gabriella Hachem and Nim Cheema in 2024. It offers a different way from the traditional method, where designers create mockups in one tool (like Figma) and developers then have to rebuild those designs in code.
The Old Way Versus the New Way
Right now, product design typically works in two separate steps. A designer creates what a product should look like in a design app. Then that design gets handed off to a developer, who looks at it and writes the code to make it actually work. This back-and-forth creates delays and sometimes misunderstandings.
Dessn's approach skips this handoff. Instead, designers and developers work directly in the actual code environment where the product is built. The platform uses artificial intelligence to help translate what designers want into technical details that developers need.
Dessn deliberately does not connect to existing tools like Figma. The company believes that using the same old tools, even with better connections between them, keeps teams stuck in the old handoff problem. The goal is to change how teams work fundamentally, not just make the old way slightly smoother.
Why This Matters Now
The software industry has been moving toward faster, more connected ways of building products. Teams want to make changes quickly and reliably. A tool that lets designers and developers work together in one place fits that trend.
Looking at the market, design tools have become increasingly important to big companies. When Adobe bought Figma for $20 billion a few years ago, it showed how valuable these tools are. Dessn is betting that some teams will prefer a different approach—one built specifically for developers and the code they work with every day.
How AI Fits In
Dessn uses AI, though the company has not explained exactly how. The technology likely helps in a few ways: it can translate design choices into code-ready instructions, handle responsive design automatically (making things look good on phones and computers), and help designers understand what is and is not possible to build.
Think of the AI as a translator between the designer's language and the developer's language, allowing both to work faster and with less confusion.
What Happens Next
Six million dollars gives Dessn time to hire more engineers and improve the platform based on what early customers tell them. For a two-year-old company trying to reach larger organizations, this funding level shows investors believe in the team and the idea.
The bigger question is whether teams will actually change how they work. Switching to a new tool is easy; changing how an entire team collaborates takes real effort. The company will need to show that this new approach actually saves time and improves the final product.
Dessn's bet is that the future of design and development is tighter integration between the two disciplines. If that turns out to be true, it could reshape how companies build software products. But that case still needs to be made through real results.
