After fits and starts, Wall Street looks like it’s leaving the welcome mat out for initial public offerings, with the first wave of second-quarter IPOs in acceleration mode in late April.
Renaissance Capital, which regularly takes the pulse of new stock issues, said April will be one of the biggest months for IPO activity since 2022, with nine IPOs raking in a total of $6.4 billion for the month, setting the stage for a boom in newly minted stocks. Leading the way are a dynamic group of industries, including a “mix of artificial intelligence infrastructure plays, biotechs and other companies aligned with recent trends,” Renaissance reports.
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Even so, market experts say investors shouldn’t start waving cash at IPOs, at least not without a healthy dose of discernment. “IPO enthusiasts had better take heed from 2025 if they want to succeed in 2026,” says Angelo DeCandia, professor of business and accounting at New York-based Touro University, for example. “The market for new companies is alive and well, but is not the ‘slam-dunk’ that we have seen in previous times.”
Cautious Optimism Shaping IPOs in 2026
IPO performance in 2025 was shaped mostly by the Trump administration’s policy preferences, including areas such as defense, AI, crypto and space tech, with more than two-thirds of last year’s offerings based on these industries. “Continued political support for these sectors will be key for a robust offerings calendar in the coming year,” DeCandia adds.
New issues may have an easier path to a public listing, though, with less stringent disclosure requirements and less restrictive compliance rules. “Both of those impactors will lead to cost reductions in the IPO process, thereby leading to more deals in the future,” DeCandia says.
Other experts say the 2026 IPO outlook feels open but selective. “Deals are getting done, but only for companies that are easy to understand and can back it up with real numbers,” says Zaia Lawandow, founder of the IR Studio, an investor relations firm that works with companies navigating IPOs, spinoffs and special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) mergers.
Lawandow believes there’s some merit to the argument that the stock market is still in the middle of the “SaaS apocalypse.” Many software names are still under pressure, and “investors are being more careful about what they’re willing to pay for growth,” he says. “At the same time, the pace of change around AI, especially tools like Claude, is starting to raise real questions about the durability of certain software models. That combination is making investors more cautious on new tech IPOs.”
In a combustible IPO market that’s starting to regain its balance, what new issues in the pipeline make sense for Main Street investors? These new names are worth a closer look:
| UPCOMING IPO | IPO VALUATION ESTIMATE |
| SpaceX | $1.75 trillion to $2 trillion |
| Databricks | $134 billion |
| OpenAI | $852 billion to $1 trillion |
| Anthropic | $380 billion to $1 trillion |
| Pershing Square | $5 billion to $10 billion |
| Anduril Industries | $60 billion |
| Payward Inc. (Kraken) | $13.3 billion |
| Stripe | $159 billion |
SpaceX
This AI-powered aerospace company, famously founded by Elon Musk, looms over the IPO landscape like a massive planet right now, casting a big shadow. Market insiders say a public offering could reach or exceed a $1.75 trillion to $2 trillion valuation, easily making it the largest IPO in history. That title is currently held by Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco (ticker: 2222.SR), which raised $25.6 billion to $29.4 billion in its 2019 debut. SpaceX could well exceed those numbers, with an expected IPO haul of $75 billion.
Reports of SpaceX’s confidential IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission emerged on April 1, while the second- and third-largest candidates (OpenAI and Anthropic) have not yet confirmed their IPO status. Of the two others, Anthropic seems like a safer bet to happen in 2026.
“Those companies are set to break records when they go public, and all eyes will be on them,” says Igor Pejic, a tech industry analyst and author of the book “Tech Money: A Guide to the New Game of Technology Investing.” Pejic adds, “The IPOs will be even more critical to them than to the others, because in the AI race, capital is becoming one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, competitive advantages of all.”
The SpaceX IPO seems to be drawing more optimism from market veterans. “Whether it benefits from the ‘meme stock’ phenomenon or just the favor that Musk’s companies carry in the market, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did well, at least in the short term,” says Jonathan Ford Jr., president and investment advisor at JFJ Advisory Services LLC.
While geopolitical tensions and inflation fears remain background risks, the Starship V3 orbital test flight, currently eyeing an April window, could be the critical catalyst for a public listing. That long-awaited test flight should be imminent, company CEO Elon Musk said. “Next flight of Starship and first flight of V3 ship and booster is four to six weeks away, indicating a NET (no earlier than) date of May 1, 2026,” he noted in an X post on April 3.
An IPO could also introduce new pressures for Musk and his company, as public shareholders will face greater scrutiny of the Starship program’s capital-intensive burn rate and the complexities of the founder’s multi-company governance.
Databricks
Databricks is catching fire in 2026, just in time for what many tech investors hope will be a powerhouse IPO this year. The San Francisco-based enterprise software company is holding up its end of the bargain, with $5.4 billion in annual revenue as of February — that’s up 65% on a year-to-year basis. The same month, Databricks closed a $5 billion financing round, with an estimated valuation of $134 billion, up 34% from a mid-2025 valuation point and roughly doubling its 2024 year-end valuation.
The company’s Databricks Lakehouse platform enables companies like Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), Rivian Automotive Inc. (RIVN) and Shell PLC (SHEL) to not only store and track data on one platform, but it also allows them to train their own language models via a generative AI layer that’s built into the Databricks platform, stemming from its $1.3 billion purchase of MosaicML in 2023.
That all puts Databricks in prime position for a public debut, with participants in prediction markets platform Kalshi giving an IPO this year a 70% chance.
[Read: 5 Top Laser Photonics Stocks for 2026]
OpenAI
There’s still no word on a firm IPO date from OpenAI, as concerns mount on the financial burden the artificial intelligence giant is taking on with massive data center spending, especially as the company has been shedding new users and revenues in 2026.
The company, recently valued at $852 billion, is brushing off any financial concerns ahead of a new issue expected to roll out this year, possibly as early as June. Sarah Friar, the company’s chief financial officer, seems bullish about OpenAI’s IPO prospects, recently noting that the company is seeing intense interest from retail investors and plans to allocate about 30% of its IPO shares to retail customers. Talk of a $1 trillion valuation injects excitement into the OpenAI IPO conversation, but don’t be surprised if the number clocks in lower, especially if computing costs rise or technology markets shift.
“It’s not just the buzz about IPOs like OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic that has everyone excited, but the fact that all three will set records for initial issuance size, thus changing the IPO market into the foreseeable future,” DeCandia says. “The fact that all three form part of the looming AI infrastructure will certainly contribute to the general ‘fear of missing out’ surrounding their issuance, and that will certainly contribute to a robust participation from all market participants.”
One word of caution on the IPO timeline for OpenAI. “OpenAI would reset valuation frameworks,” says Dustin Dumas, a former investment banker and a U.S. Department of State Fulbright specialist. “A public filing would force disclosure of its cost structure in a way the market has not seen yet. That alone may delay timing.”
Anthropic
Anthropic, OpenAI’s closest rival, is also up for an IPO in 2026 and is expected to follow the same new-issue trajectory, with a fourth-quarter debut. Users of the prediction markets platform Polymarket set the odds of an IPO in 2026 at 54%, although the company doesn’t seem to be rushing to the IPO market.
Anthropic is early in the process, but “clearly moving in that direction,” Dumas says. “Enterprise revenue growth will be the key signal for investors.”
Dumas adds that big tech behemoths like Anthropic don’t need public markets and will likely take their time on a presumed IPO. “Private capital is still deep, especially in AI,” Dumas says. “IPO timing is about maximizing valuation, not accessing liquidity.”
Additionally, Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL), parent company of Google, is expected to invest up to $40 billion in the AI modeling titan, with $10 billion upfront. Anthropic’s financial picture seems to support the investment, as the San Francisco-based company’s annualized revenue has skyrocketed from $1 billion in 2024 to $30 billion by early 2026.
If you can’t wait for an Anthropic IPO, you can still have some access to its shares, which are largely blocked from Main Street investors. In particular, KraneShares Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (AGIX) offers indirect exposure to Anthropic, though company shares represent only 2.5% of the fund’s portfolio as of late April.
Pershing Square
Pershing Square is set to go public April 29 on the New York Stock Exchange, issuing an expected 100 million shares at $50 apiece. Pershing, run by billionaire investor Bill Ackman, opens as a closed-end ?fund that is a key component of a combined initial public offering of the alternative asset management company.
Pershing Square USA Ltd., the closed-end fund, will trade under the ticker PSUS, while his investment firm Pershing Square Inc. will also go public with the ticker PS on the NYSE. The rare two-part listing is expected to raise $5 billion to $10 billion for Pershing, with 85% of shares reportedly already committed by international investors.
Ackman has largely been mum on the new IPO, but he did send a recent letter to the SEC delving into Pershing Square’s new structure, which will include an investment strategy that “seeks to achieve its investment objective by acquiring long-term, large minority stakes in 12 to 15 high-quality, predominantly North American-listed, large-capitalization growth companies.” Additionally, the Pershing investment team aims to “complement its core investment strategy by seeking to identify and execute upon asymmetric hedges in order to protect the investment portfolio against specific macroeconomic risks, and to capitalize on market volatility.”
Anduril Industries
With the U.S.-Iran military conflict still percolating and the U.S. Department of Defense expected to spend a whopping $855.7 billion this year, Anduril Industries could find itself in a sweet spot via defense and high tech, as the company specializes in the development of high-end autonomous vehicles, surveillance towers, counter-drone technologies, and other sophisticated military and defense equipment that’s in demand right now.
For the defense technology company, founded in 2017 and based in Costa Mesa, California, IPO rumblings emerged in mid-2025, after Anduril raised $2.5 billion in a funding round with a $20 billion valuation. As of March 2026, the company was reportedly targeting an additional $4 billion in private funding that would bring its valuation to the $60 billion range.
Anduril founder and CEO Palmer Luckey has indicated a preference for an IPO, noting in 2025 that Anduril is “definitely going to be a publicly traded company,” and that he is “running this company to be the shape of a publicly traded company.”
Luckey also noted there isn’t really a defined path to an IPO, but the new round of private funding may provide some clarity by the second half of 2026.
Payward Inc. (Kraken)
After a mid-March pause on a proposed IPO due to sour conditions in the crypto markets, Payward, Kraken’s parent company, appears to be revving its engines again, only a month later. Speaking at the Semafor World Economy summit in Washington, D.C., Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi announced on April 14 that the company had confidentially filed an IPO with the SEC. While no timeline was given, Kraken had previously filed an S-1 with U.S. regulators in November 2025, aiming to open its IPO in the first or second quarter of 2026.
Back in November, Kraken’s valuation had settled at $20 billion after it raised $800 million in new funds. A new round of funding wasn’t as impressive, with an adjusted valuation of $13.3 billion, about 30% lower than in late 2025. Now it seems Kraken will wait things out until the cryptocurrency market improves. In the meantime, the company can focus on the preliminary work that comes with any IPO, including meeting compliance standards, boosting revenue and improving operations.
Dumas sees Kraken as a major crypto-market signal when it goes public. “The key question is whether it earns a premium multiple or trades in line with volume cycles tied to Bitcoin,” Dumas says.
Stripe
This long-awaited fintech IPO is gaining some momentum in 2026, with a recent tender offer for staffers and shareholders valuing the company at $159 billion, the company announced in February. Payment volumes are up as well, rising to $1.9 trillion in 2025. That’s 34% higher than in 2024, company officials reported.
Stripe is also expanding its geographic footprint, with 57% of its customer base made up of non-U.S. clients. Additionally, the company’s new business grew at a 50% clip from 2024 to 2025, spurred by AI payment technology deals with OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).
There’s no specific IPO date, as Stripe co-founder John Collison stated in January 2026 that the company is “in no rush” to go public, while it continues to use already-upbeat tender offers to provide liquidity to employees. According to Perplexity Finance, the odds are 97.5% that Stripe won’t go public in the first half of this year, even as its valuation is reportedly soaring past $150 billion.
On the Verge of Busting Out
Looking ahead, market gurus say there’s still a pretty deep pipeline, especially across AI, fintech and vertical SaaS.
“Names like Stripe and Databricks always come up, but those companies have the luxury of waiting,” Lawandow says. “More broadly, a lot of management teams are spending more time getting ready before they file. They’re tightening the narrative, getting their metrics in shape and thinking more carefully about how they’ll be understood once they’re public.”
Lawandow also notes that companies aren’t being priced on potential anymore, and that IPO companies know it: “They’re getting priced on whether investors actually believe them.”
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8 Best Upcoming IPOs in 2026 originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 04/28/26: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
