The prevailing sentiment among industry observers and legal advisors as 2025 began was one of cautious optimism, a feeling that has been thoroughly validated by the year’s performance. Aman Singh, a distinguished corporate partner at the esteemed legal advisory firm Fenwick & West, who played a pivotal role in guiding high-profile companies like CoreWeave and Figma through their IPO processes on the issuer side, and advised on Navan as counsel for the underwriters, articulated this sentiment clearly. "Coming into 2025, folks were optimistic about the IPO market," Singh noted, reflecting a shared anticipation among market participants for a thawing of the IPO freeze. This optimism was rooted in several factors, including a perceived stabilization of the macroeconomic environment, a potential easing of inflationary pressures, and a growing backlog of mature, high-growth private companies eager to tap into public capital.

The year 2025 witnessed a flurry of high-profile IPOs early on, setting a promising tone for the market. However, this momentum experienced a temporary "chill" due to a government shutdown that introduced a period of regulatory uncertainty and procedural delays. Singh expects this temporary slowdown to translate into an even busier first quarter of 2026, as companies that were put on hold during the shutdown rush to complete their listings. Looking further ahead, Singh’s predictions for 2026 are particularly bullish, contingent on a continued downward trend in interest rates. Lower interest rates generally lead to a more favorable borrowing environment for companies and make equity investments more attractive relative to fixed-income assets, thereby boosting investor appetite for growth stocks and improving valuation multiples for new listings. "It is a fairly conducive macroeconomic environment," Singh affirmed, pointing to a confluence of factors that could sustain and even accelerate the IPO momentum. This includes not just interest rate trends but also broader economic growth, robust corporate earnings, and a generally positive investor sentiment.

In this evolving market, Singh identifies specific characteristics that will make companies particularly attractive candidates for a 2026 IPO. Foremost among these are profitable companies, a marked shift from earlier eras where rapid growth, even at the expense of profitability, was often prioritized. Today’s public market investors are demonstrating a clear preference for businesses with strong fundamentals and a proven path to sustainable earnings. Beyond profitability, the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is undeniably shaping investment priorities. "A profitable company — particularly one that either is an AI play or has a good story of how AI will be a tailwind for their business — are good candidates for a 2026 IPO," Singh emphasized. This highlights the immense premium investors are placing on companies at the forefront of AI innovation or those that can clearly articulate how AI will enhance their operations, create new revenue streams, or significantly improve their market position. Whether a company develops core AI technologies, leverages AI for product enhancement, or uses it to optimize internal processes, a compelling AI narrative is becoming a critical component of a successful public offering.

The 2025 listings provided a compelling snapshot of the market’s renewed vigor and the types of companies capturing investor interest. Among the most prominent and high-profile companies to debut this year were several industry leaders. New Jersey-based CoreWeave, an AI data center specialist, exemplifies the intense investor demand for AI infrastructure. Its strategic partnerships and cutting-edge capabilities in providing GPU-accelerated cloud computing for AI workloads positioned it as a market darling. San Francisco-based Figma, the collaborative design platform, showcased the continued strength of enterprise software and the power of network effects in creative industries. Its innovative approach to design and rapid user adoption made it a highly anticipated listing, especially after its high-profile, albeit ultimately unsuccessful, acquisition attempt by Adobe. San Francisco-based digital bank Chime represented the ongoing transformation in financial services, highlighting the growth of challenger banks catering to modern consumer needs. Finally, Sweden-based Klarna, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) fintech giant, underscored the global reach and disruptive potential of innovative payment solutions, attracting significant attention for its strong brand and international presence. Among these four leading companies, CoreWeave stood out as the best-performing stock as of December 16, 2025, having impressively gained over 60% from its listing price, a testament to the AI boom’s profound impact on public market valuations.

A deeper dive into the sector performance of the 23 U.S.-based billion-dollar listings reveals a diverse yet distinct set of leading industries. Biotech and healthcare led the pack with six companies, demonstrating the consistent investor appetite for innovation in life sciences, driven by demographic shifts, technological advancements, and unmet medical needs. Following closely were blockchain and crypto companies, with four listings, marking a significant rebound for a sector that endured a prolonged "crypto winter." Fintech contributed three companies, reinforcing its ongoing disruptive influence across financial services. Insurance and aerospace each saw two companies go public, showcasing innovation in insurtech and the burgeoning space economy, respectively.

The performance of the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector was particularly noteworthy, signaling a renewed confidence in digital assets. New York-based stablecoin provider Circle, a key player in the digital dollar ecosystem, saw its stock perform strongly, benefiting from increased regulatory clarity and institutional adoption of stablecoins. San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Bullish, aimed at institutional investors, also performed well, indicating a growing convergence between traditional finance and the crypto world. Similarly, San Francisco-based blockchain lending firm Figure, which leverages blockchain technology for more efficient lending and asset management, demonstrated the potential for distributed ledger technology to revolutionize traditional financial processes. In contrast, New York-based crypto exchange platform Gemini lagged behind, illustrating that even within a recovering sector, individual company performance can vary significantly based on regulatory challenges, competitive pressures, and specific market events. The strong performance of many crypto-related IPOs suggests that public investors are increasingly differentiating between speculative ventures and well-governed, technologically sound blockchain businesses.

While the aggregate listing prices for these 23 companies reached an impressive $125 billion, a figure well above the past three years, it is important to place this in historical context. This value, while significant, remained below the peaks seen in 2019 and 2020, which preceded the extraordinary IPO boom of 2021. The year 2021 was an outlier, characterized by ultra-low interest rates, pandemic-driven digital acceleration, and a surge in special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) listings, which temporarily inflated market activity. The current market, while robust, appears to be driven by more fundamental factors and a greater emphasis on company quality, suggesting a more sustainable recovery.

Looking to the future, Aman Singh predicts that the latter half of 2026 could see even bigger listings come to market. This expectation addresses a long-standing trend of companies choosing to stay private for longer, often fueled by abundant private capital and a desire to avoid the intense scrutiny and regulatory burdens of the public markets. However, Singh reminds us of a fundamental truth: "you can’t match public market liquidity." For mature companies with significant scale, a public listing offers unparalleled access to capital, provides a clear exit path for early investors and employees, enhances brand prestige, and creates a liquid currency for mergers and acquisitions.

Singh also touched upon the current "uncertainty on valuations." The market, having seen a period of both exuberance and contraction, is still working to find its footing regarding appropriate valuation multiples for growth-oriented tech companies. This uncertainty stems from fluctuating macroeconomic conditions, evolving investor expectations, and a relative scarcity of recent, comparable public market transactions. However, Singh believes this will stabilize. "As we see more of the tech IPOs go out, I think the valuations will stabilize, people will get a better sense of investor demand, and so hopefully we’ll see a more certain valuation environment," he concluded. Each successful tech IPO provides crucial price discovery, establishing new benchmarks and helping investors and companies alike gain a clearer understanding of market appetite and fair value. This iterative process is essential for building a healthy, predictable, and consistently active IPO market.

In summary, 2025 marked a definitive turning point for the IPO market, particularly for technology and innovation-driven companies. The increase in both the number and aggregate value of listings, coupled with the strong performance of key players in sectors like AI and crypto, paints a picture of renewed investor confidence. With a favorable macroeconomic outlook, especially if interest rates continue their downward trajectory, and a clear preference for profitable companies with compelling AI narratives, 2026 is poised to be an even more optimistic year for public market debuts. The pent-up demand, combined with the undeniable advantages of public market liquidity, suggests that we are at the cusp of a sustained period of robust IPO activity, bringing exciting new companies to the public stage and offering significant opportunities for investors.