The IPO market is set for an unprecedented reopening in 2026, potentially bringing trillions of dollars in private companies back to public markets after years of stalled listings and cautious boardrooms.
Private companies have delayed public debuts due to rising interest rates and regulatory uncertainty, leading to a large backlog of mature companies ready to go public.
$2.9 trillion in private-company value has remained sidelined, but bankers and investors believe the logjam is beginning to break, setting the stage for a significant IPO year.
SpaceX is a key player in this IPO wave, with estimates suggesting its potential IPO could reach $1 trillion, making founder Elon Musk the planet’s first trillionaire.
This IPO wave will be driven by a small number of mega-cap private companies absorbing enormous amounts of institutional capital, reshaping the IPO landscape.
SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are among the key companies poised for IPOs, with potential valuations in the high hundreds of billions to over $1 trillion.
Discord, valued at hundreds of millions of users, is also in line for a long-anticipated IPO, testing investor appetite for non-advertising-based platforms.
The challenge in 2026 is not a shortage of companies capable of going public, but a shortage of capacity to absorb the massive capital needed for trillion-dollar offerings.
Institutional investors must commit large amounts of capital to participate in mega-deals, crowding out smaller IPOs and making deal sequencing crucial.
The success or delay of mega-deals will determine how wide the IPO window remains for everyone else, with a deep bench of long-private companies waiting to go public.
Databricks, valued at over $130 billion, and Stripe, with an estimated valuation of $90 billion to $120 billion, are among the top IPO candidates in the tech sector.
Revolut, Canva, and Strava are also prominent in the 2026 IPO conversation, signaling a diverse range of companies looking to tap into public markets.
Crypto-native firms like Ripple are re-entering the IPO conversation, with potential market capitalization exceeding $3 trillion, dominating issuance calendars.
Despite constraints from mega-deals, evidence of renewed IPO momentum is building, with strong investor demand leading the cycle.
The IPO pipeline is becoming less theoretical and more imminent, with large private companies on the verge of going public and potentially redefining the market.
Read more at Yahoo Finance: Space X, OpenAI Dominate Speculation About $3 Trillion IPO Geyser