IPOs are so back

Amid a tumultuous equity market, elevated interest rates, and an oncoming economic slowdown, it might not seem like the best time for private companies to hit the world of public markets.

But the IPO (aka initial public offering) pipeline is finally showing signs of life.

Zooming back in time all the way to 2021, there was a steady stream of startups deciding to make the lucrative jump into the stock market (see our 23andMe story above). But after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates in 2022, many tech unicorns decided to stay private for longer. For the past few years, everyone on Wall Street has been trying to predict when exactly IPOs would return to the glory days.

Now that inflation has decelerated and interest rates are down (slightly), tech names are lining up to offer their shares to you, everyday investors: Ticketing company StubHub filed to go public last week, while AI infrastructure firm CoreWeave is expected to make its public market debut any day now. Health company Hinge Health and online buy now pay later giant Klarna also filed to go public in the past few weeks.

The pickup in IPOs coincides with a broader resurgence in all kinds of dealmaking. Last week, Google announced it was buying cybersecurity giant Wiz for a staggering $32 billion—its biggest acquisition ever—indicating that mergers and acquisitions could be picking up as well.

The art of the deal?

Wall Street was hoping that President Trump’s business-friendly policies would provide a better environment for companies to make their public market debut.

But that logic hasn’t exactly panned out. Fears that Trump’s tariffs will derail the economy and destroy normalized trade relations has rocked the stock market, which is why many companies are deciding to stay private until the chaos blows over.

But as Stubhub, CoreWeave, and Klarna show, you can’t kick the can down the road forever.—LB