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There’s been an uptick in IPO filings arriving on the SEC’s desk recently, but it’s been mostly from companies in biotech and other sectors—not so much from the usual venture-backed tech startups.
“There is so much speculation and fluff around SpaceX … that I don’t think any potential issuers are really altering plans around that,” said Lise Buyer, co-founder of IPO adviser Class V Group. “Instead, it’s the performance of the market in general and the overall growth of the individual companies that will determine if [or] when they actually flip to public.”
And for some companies, the market has been encouraging: Stock investors last week drove the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to all-time highs, bolstered by stabilizing macro conditions and lower volatility. So far in 2026, there have been 79 IPO filings in the US and 41 IPO pricings of at least $50 million in market cap, according to Renaissance Capital data.
Kailera Therapeutics, the obesity-drug developer backed by Atlas Venture and Bain Capital Life Sciences, just raised $625 million in an upsized IPO. Other companies that put IPO plans in motion this month include Odyssey Therapeutics and Mobia Medical. Amazon-backed nuclear energy company X-Energy is slated to begin trading on Friday.
“If SpaceX goes [sustainably] well, I would expect to see a number of other tech companies—perhaps AI companies beyond the mega-caps—attempt to take advantage of a market perceived to be friendly,” Buyer said.
SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI are projected to deliver the largest year for IPOs in history, in terms of proceeds raised—potentially generating more exit value combined than every VC-backed IPO since 2000, according to PitchBook research. Smaller issuers are now closely watching the market, too.
“If you’re a smaller issuer, you want to get out before that truck comes through,” said Steve Brotman, managing partner of late-stage investment firm Alpha Partners. “No one knows how much money is going to be left on the table. We’re talking about the biggest IPOs in the history of mankind.”
There have not been many recent notable instances of sizable VC-backed tech companies prepping IPOs. Those top tech companies may have valuations “too high to find support in the [stock] market on the base of a money-losing business model,” said Kyle Stanford, PitchBook’s director of US venture capital research.
“Even tech companies that have been profitable while going public recently haven’t fared too well,” Stanford said. “That, alongside the wait to see how SpaceX does, is keeping new listings in the biotech and healthcare space, or PE-backed mature companies.”
Recent IPOs with share prices that have held up appear to be reassuring other aspiring issuers, said Michael Ewens, a professor of finance at Columbia Business School.
“There are people saying, ‘OK, we’re good now,’” Ewens said. “There’s a little bit of a cascading effect. A couple of firms issued, and bankers got excited. Other firms are like, ‘OK, this is working.’”
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