Despite a U.S. government shutdown that hit the “pause” button on new initial public offerings, the IPO market is expected to finish 2025 as it started, with a flurry of newly minted publicly traded companies.
Data from MicroVentures show that 371 U.S. companies went public through Dec. 4, a significantly faster pace than the 266 nationwide IPOs that went live in 2024. The 2025 IPO class included big names like CoreWeave Inc. (ticker: CRWV), Figma Inc. (FIG), Chime Financial Inc. (CHYM) and Circle Internet Group Inc. (CRCL). Since then, several other big IPOs have moved forward.
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“There clearly is significant pent-up demand for companies to go public,” says William Fahey, private company D&O insurance product leader at Marsh.
One factor contributing to demand is that private equity firms have been holding on to investments for longer than they or their investors would like. “The lack of timely ‘exits’ from their portfolio is a significant pain point with investors,” Fahey says. “If market conditions are stable enough for companies to confidently feel that forces won’t derail their IPO out of their control, then we should continue to see increasingly robust IPO activity for the remainder of 2025, continuing into 2026.”
Simultaneously, artificial intelligence-native companies continue to attract capital despite requiring unprecedented levels of investment to fund infrastructure, computing power and talent. “Venture capital has consolidated around a small group of large, multi-stage firms that can raise additional capital from limited partners seeking exposure to the AI supercycle,” says Kaush Amin, managing director and head of private market investing at U.S. Bank. “This has reinforced a winner-focused dynamic in private markets.”
Even so, there are limits to how much capital private markets can provide, Amin says. “As leading AI and infrastructure companies scale, their funding needs begin to resemble those traditionally met by public markets,” he notes. “For firms unwilling to slow investment or risk losing competitive ground, an IPO may become a necessity rather than a choice.”
At the doorstep to the new year, market watchers say they expect IPOs to lean more heavily into burgeoning financial and cultural areas.
The IPO market will be healthy, with a continued fixation on AI and cryptocurrency offerings, says Steve Boatwright, lead mergers and acquisitions and securities law partner at Gallagher & Kennedy in Phoenix. “With interest rates coming down and a strong economy, 2026 is a good year for going public, as I think there will be more uncertainty in 2027 as midterm elections approach,” he adds.
Which IPOs, current and future, are fueling interest on Wall Street right now? These new market names lead the way:
| NEW/UPCOMING IPO | INITIAL IPO VALUATION/ESTIMATE |
| Medline Inc. (MDLN) | $54.5 billion |
| Andersen Group Inc. (ANDG) | $1.8 billion |
| Wealthfront Corp. (WLTH) | $2.1 billion |
| CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV) | $23.0 billion |
| Circle Internet Group Inc. (CRCL) | $8.1 billion |
| Figma Inc. (FIG) | $19.3 billion |
| SpaceX | $1.5 trillion (est.) |
| Canva | $42.0 billion (est.) |
Medline Inc. (MDLN)
Medline, the biggest privately held medical supply manufacturer and distributor, rolled out its IPO on Dec. 17, priced at $29 with 216,000 million shares sold. The Northfield, Illinois, company raised about $6.3 billion, putting Medline at the top of the heap of IPO deals in 2025 with a valuation of around $54.5 billion.
Blackstone Inc. (BX), Carlyle Group Inc. (CG) and Hellman & Friedman ?acquired Medline in 2021 for $34 billion in the largest private-equity deal that year and one of the largest leveraged buyouts ever. As for the IPO, Medline’s opening share price was at the high end of its marketed range between $26 and $30 per share. Prior to the increase, Chinese battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (OTC: CYATY) had the biggest IPO this year worldwide in May, raising $5.3 billion.
Medline is expected to use the bulk of the new-issue proceeds to pay off part of its estimated $16.8 billion in debt.
Andersen Group Inc. (ANDG)
Founded in 2002 by partners at the former tax and financial advisory firm Arthur Andersen, which collapsed after the energy company Enron imploded, Andersen Group also launched its IPO on Dec. 17, with a valuation of $1.75 billion. The company raised $176 million in the IPO by selling 11 million shares at $16 apiece, on the high end of its estimate.
Analysts expect Andersen Group to rise above the Enron stigma, with Lukas Muehlbauer from IPOX calling the IPO “an interesting resurrection story” in a recent research note, adding that the Andersen brand’s “historic association with quality will outweigh the reputational baggage of Enron.”
Shares of both Medline and Andersen Group soared more than 30% in their debuts.
Wealthfront Corp. (WLTH)
Wealthfront’s IPO launched Dec. 12 at $14 per share, as the first-ever financial services robo-advisor public offering. By Dec. 16, WLTH shares were trading around $13 per share, holding fairly close to the company’s opening valuation of $2.1 billion. The Palo Alto, California-based company raised just over $484 million in the IPO, selling 34.6 million shares on the first day of trading.
Wealthfront has come a long way since 2022, when its proposed $1.4 billion acquisition by Switzerland-based UBS collapsed. Since then, Wealthfront CEO David Fortunato has circled the wagons and steered the company toward a new growth strategy, with this month’s IPO being the crown jewel.
The IPO’s 3.7% share growth on day one of trading paled in comparison to those of recent financial powerhouse IPOs Klarna Group PLC (KLAR) and Chime. Still, the company’s shares are stable, and the firm’s finances seem in good order, with reported revenue for the year ended Oct. 31 rising to $95 million, up from $80.3 million the previous year.
CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV)
CoreWeave’s share-price performance continues to slide, falling 41.5% over the past three months as of Dec. 16. This week, CoreWeave sought to prop up the stock by issuing $2.3 billion in convertible debt. The cloud computing company is betting that investors will rally around the stock as it uses debt-financed cash to build data centers that will eventually lead to a strong revenue base. That path could be rocky, as CoreWeave Chief Financial Officer Nitin Agrawal says 2026 debt levels will climb, with the company requiring $30 billion in data center funding to fulfill customer contract obligations. Bad luck has vexed CRWV, too, as heavy rains have delayed construction on a new (and critical) AI data center near Dallas, stalling construction for several months.
If CoreWeave can weather the current storm, however, its long-term prognosis is favorable.
“This company is at the center of providing cloud AI infrastructure and being backed by the trillion-dollar juggernaut Nvidia,” says Jason Brown, stock market tracker at TheBrownReport.com. “CoreWeave is participating in the new digital transformation in a growing industry that’s showing no signs of slowing down in capex spend from mega companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others.”
Return on investment for AI development is at the center of Wall Street debate today, but many analysts have CRWV stock as a winner in the long run. The 22 analysts included in TipRanks’ data for CRWV rate it a consensus “moderate buy” with upside potential of 97% as of Dec. 17 afternoon.
Circle Internet Group Inc. (CRCL)
The USDC stablecoin provider’s stock performance has been choppy of late, rising 1.4% over the past month but with a 38.4% loss over the past three months. Circle did get some upbeat news recently: Visa Inc. (V) will allow U.S. banks to settle transactions in USDC stablecoins issued by Circle. CRCL shares jumped 9% on Dec. 16 after the Visa deal was announced.
In mid-December, the Trump administration offered another boost, greenlighting plans for five new cryptocurrency-focused national bank charters, including one for Circle. The move clears the way for Circle to create “trust banks,” which will allow it to provide digital asset safekeeping and issue new stablecoins. However, it won’t be able to generate loans or take traditional deposits.
Market watchers say that Circle is in a good spot right now, as cryptocurrencies continue to rise in stature and in investment accounts, as the Visa deal shows. “Circle Internet Group’s entry into public markets highlights the mainstreaming of digital assets,” says Amin. “Circle Internet Group’s IPO success shows that clearer rules from regulators and robust compliance allow crypto-adjacent businesses to access public capital at scale.”
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Figma Inc. (FIG)
Figma shares have plummeted in the past three months, falling 33% in that period and sliding 7% in just the past week.
What’s the problem? Call it another case of bad luck: Figma (whose IPO launched July 31) joins multiple newly publicly traded companies that made their debut before the U.S. government shutdown, which severely curbed stock performance. Of the 20 major U.S. IPOs introduced in the prior six months, only two, McGraw Hill Inc. (MH) and Figure Technology Solutions Inc. (FIGR), traded above their opening-day closing prices as of Dec. 1, according to FactSet and Dow Jones data cited by Barron’s.
That’s no solace to Figma shareholders, who figured the San Francisco-based technology company, which specializes in AI-powered design platforms that enable seamless collaboration across the entire product development lifecycle, would offer investors plenty of growth potential. While Figma now has 540,000 paying subscribers, the company is battling cost pressures related to Figma Make, its new AI-powered text and design tool, as well as other new AI platform features.
Consequently, investors may have to be patient with Figma shares. “Being a collaborative cloud-based design tool, I didn’t understand the hype behind Figma’s software or view it as groundbreaking to justify the run-up in the valuation,” Brown notes. “It looks like the market agreed, as the stock has settled almost 50% below its IPO price.”
IPOs to Watch Going Into 2026
SpaceX
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is in the news this month, as the company has reportedly entered into a so-called quiet period, a regulatory mandate from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that requires company employees to avoid discussing any potential SpaceX IPO, especially in key IPO areas like valuations or growth. If and when the company goes public, Wall Street pros expect the rocket technology company, which aims to colonize space
with a base on the moon, to raise about $30 billion in a 2026 IPO at a record $1.5 trillion valuation.
Canva
The buzz surrounding Canva, Australia’s largest private technology company, is that the design software company will trade on the Nasdaq by 2026, but there’s no official announcement yet. Major company investors like Blackbird Ventures have stated that Canva is “ready” for a late 2026 IPO, while co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Cliff Obrecht has said an IPO is “probably imminent in the next couple of years.”
The company is betting the house that its new AI development tools will drive long-term technology growth, and has an updated $42 billion valuation to back that sentiment. The company has $3 billion in annual revenue as of late 2025, and has claimed seven consecutive years of consistent profitability, which should resonate with IPO investors.
Obrecht seems to be on board with an IPO. “As a late-stage private company with the likes of all the big cats that are playing in public markets … our obligations and expectations to beat and raise are very much the same,” he said. “It does get me thinking — what’s the real difference? When the public markets were valuing companies lower than the private markets, it was like, whatever, but now at a lot higher markers it’s become more appealing.”
Right Now, It’s All About Preparation for 2026 IPOs
There are multiple unknowns on any 2026 new issues, both from a macroeconomic and company-level point of view.
“Even the listed companies may not do an IPO in 2026 for reasons we may never know,” Boatwright says. “I would like to see a broader group of diverse industries going to market, but, similar to the broader market itself, the hot stocks are in technology, often AI-focused and cryptocurrency-related.”
He adds, “There will be several smaller IPOs as well, but most of these will need strong investment bankers to get the pricing they want to make it worthwhile.”
Meanwhile, the 2026 IPO spotlight will land on the big players, who face new challenges in the coming year. “The massive deals, such as SpaceX, Databricks, Anthropic and maybe Stripe, are going to get the most news coverage because they involve companies with many billionaire shareholders,” Boatwright says. “Today, the IPO is a form of exit for the ultrawealthy and, unlike 10 years ago, most investors may have limited access to these offerings.”
That doesn’t mean potential IPO names (like SpaceX) aren’t quietly preparing behind the scenes. “Many late-stage companies have been waiting out market volatility and are now testing the waters again,” says Scott Chou, co-founder at ESO Fund. “The smart ones are lining up to move as soon as the window proves it can stay open. It will likely take some headline names like Databricks, Anduril or Stripe to go public before the floodgates truly open.”
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8 New and Upcoming IPOs for 2026 originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 12/17/25: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
