Last year turned out to be one of the best years for initial public offerings (IPOs) since 2014. In 2025, the U.S. had 353 IPOs, with 210 operating company IPOs, and $70 billion in capital raised.
Importantly, the 2025 IPO’s also saw the second-best cap-weighted day-one return since 2014, at 33%, indicating a return of investor appetite for IPOs.
Chart 1: At +33%, 2025’s average day-one performance was second best since 2014
Fewer and older companies IPO this century
Still, that wasn’t enough to move the needle on one problem in the IPO market – companies are waiting longer to go public. From the chart below, you can see that this is part of a trend that began this century.
Last year, the median age of a company going public was 12 years old. That’s only a slight improvement from 2024’s 14 years old and tied for second-oldest median age since 2009.
The ‘80s and ‘90s were noticeably different:
- Companies went public earlier in their lives (bar height). The average age at IPO was just 8 years – compared to 11 years after 2000. In fact, in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there was never a single year where the average age was over 10. But, in the last 25 years, the average age has been over 10 two-thirds of the time!
- There were a lot more IPOs (bar width), averaging over 300 per year – compared to around 110 per year after 2000.
Chart 2: Companies wait longer, and less likely, to IPO
There are a couple big reasons for this trend:
- The growth of private capital is making it easier for companies to stay private longer, with global private capital assets under management increasing from under $1 trillion in 2000 to $16 trillion in 2024.
- The regulatory burden of being public has increased this century, with research showing that the median length of a 10-K annual reports more than doubled from 23,000 words in 1996 to 49,000 in 2013, “virtually all” attributable to new regulatory requirements.
Data shows IPOs benefit investors, companies and the economy
The problem with companies waiting longer to IPO is that it denies the economy all the benefits of public companies:
- Household financial security: Research shows U.S. equities have created nearly $80 trillion in wealth from 1926 to 2024. With companies waiting longer to go public, retail investors miss out on the opportunity to invest in these companies as public companies. That makes it harder to secure the retirements of American investors, adding to the reliance on social security.
- Employment growth: Research shows that companies that hold an IPO see average annual employment growth of 23% in their first three years post-IPO, compared to a 7% annual gain for companies that withdraw their IPO filing.
- Innovation: Funds from IPOs support innovation via increased research and development (R&D) spending, with research showing that public companies invest about 50% more in R&D than comparable private firms.
- Economic Growth: Other research shows that growing public markets also boosts economic growth.
And from the company perspective, a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report shows that companies that IPO see 25% reduction in credit spreads, lower borrowing costs, and a bigger pool of lenders.
Reforms coming to help make IPOs great again
Fortunately, there are ways to address this problem.
Nasdaq’s has a number of proposals to make being public less expensive, including scaling disclosure requirements to the size of the company and simplifying quarterly reporting – or even offering semiannual reporting. Some of these suggestions overlap with the Trump administration’s “Make IPOs Great Again” plan.
These changes would make it easier for more companies to IPO and sooner. That, in turn, should help the U.S. maintain its place as the most dynamic economy in the world, with the most dynamic equity (and IPO) markets in the world.
IPO Pulses indicate continued upturns in IPO activity into midyear
Still, by any other measure, 2025 turned out to be a great year for IPOs – in the U.S. and Stockholm.
And that aligns with our expectation at the start of 2025, when we called for an “IPO revival” based on our Nasdaq IPO Pulses.
Interestingly, the outlook is similar for 2026.
Nasdaq U.S. IPO Pulse
Alongside the market selloff in early 2025, following the Liberation Day tariffs, the Nasdaq IPO Pulse fell, hitting a 1½-year low. Since then, it’s entered a renewed upturn, rising in December to nearly match October’s one-year high.
In line with the IPO Pulse, there was a dip in IPO activity in Q2, before rebounding in Q3.
Although Q4 looks weak, that’s mostly due to the government shutdown, which lasted nearly half of the quarter. The shutdown depressed IPO activity because the SEC needs to review and approve IPO filings. While the SEC created a path for companies to go public during the shutdown, it still slowed this process, while the shutdown itself added to economic uncertainty, which may have led some companies to delay going public.
So, with the Nasdaq IPO Pulse near October’s one-year high, U.S. IPO activity is likely to remain in an upturn into the midyear (at least), given the IPO Pulse’s median forecast window is about five months. That means it could be an opportune time for some big names to IPO!
Chart 3: Nasdaq IPO Pulse near a one-year high, signaling continued upturn in IPO activity
Nasdaq Stockholm IPO Pulse
The situation is similar in Stockholm. In 2025, it raised the most capital of any venue in Europe ($7.2 billion) across 20 new listings.
Like in the U.S., the trade war triggered a selloff in Europe in early 2025, contributing to a fall in the Nasdaq Stockholm IPO Pulse. But it has rebounded since then, rising to a 10-month high in December.
In line with this upturn in the Stockholm IPO Pulse, IPO activity has increased each of the last two quarters, including Europe’s biggest IPO in three years in Q4 – Verisure (VSURE), a global security services company (which trades in euros!).
So, with the Stockholm IPO Pulse at a 10-month high, it’s likely IPO activity will stay in an uptrend of its own into Q2 2026 (at least).
Chart 4: Recovery in Stockholm IPO activity in line with upturn in Stockholm IPO Pulse
IPO Pulses supportive to start 2026, in a year that could see big name IPOs
With our U.S. and Stockholm IPO Pulses both in upturns, it’s likely we see IPO activity stay in uptrends, too. If we see policy changes to address the burden of being public in the U.S., that will likely support more even IPOs – and hopefully bring companies public sooner.
That’s consistent with expectations of a strong IPO pipeline. Bloomberg suggests companies worth a combined $3 trillion could IPO this year. Counting just the “centicorns” – companies valued at $100 billion or more – the list of IPO prospects includes SpaceX, OpenAI, ByteDance, Anthropic AI, Databricks, and Stripe. So, 2026 could be a historic year for IPOs!
We’ll be watching and providing updates on the cyclical drivers of IPOs with our quarterly updates on our IPO Pulses.
