A few big-name companies have grabbed the lion’s share of the IPO limelight so far this year, including major tech players Spotify SPOT and Dropbox DBX. Meanwhile, some investors might have missed just how busy 2018 has been, in fact, June could end up being the busiest month of initial public offerings in three years.
Recent IPOs
Many investors have been anticipating IPOs from some of the most well known and highly visible tech firms in the U.S., with Airbnb and Uber standing above the rest. Yet, it seems clear that both of these companies, which helped redefine two long-standing industries, look poised to wait until at least 2019 to go public—although Uber rival Lyft could reportedly go public in late 2018.
But some investors might still have a sour IPO taste in their mouths since Snapchat parent Snap SNAP, which was arguably last year’s most highly visible IPO along with meal kit company Blue Apron APRN, have mostly disappointed thus far.
With that said, 2017 did see 189 companies go public, marking a relatively substantial leap from 2016’s 111, according to Dealogic. Tech IPOs—often considered a cornerstone of the IPO market—raised $12.46 billion in 37 deals last year (Just for reference, we are still nowhere close to the late 1990s, which saw 621 companies go public in 1997 alone). But let’s move onto this year.
2018
Spotify stock officially opened at $165.90 per share in early April, closing at a price that valued the company at $26.5 billion, which helped it land as the eighth-largest tech IPO after one day of trading, directly behind Google GOOGL and Snap.
Meanwhile, since the start of June, 22 companies have gone public. Looking ahead to next week, 12 more companies are expected to IPO, including retailer BJ’s Wholesale (BJ), and some large biotech firms, Tricida (TCDA), Forty Seven (FTSV), Translate Bio (BIO), and others.
Yet, one of the more highly anticipated IPOs next week is Domo (DOMO). The business intelligence provider was once a tech “unicorn” but it has actually seen its valuation plummet 75% from its last funding round.
