Number of IPOs in the U.S. 2000-2025

2021 was quite a year for initial public offers (IPOs) in the United States, which was largely influenced by the significant rise in the number of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) who went public. In 2021, there were ***** initial public offerings (IPOs) in the United States. In 2022 and 2023, however, the number of IPOs dropped to *** and *** respectively. 2024 saw a rise in the number of IPOs, reaching *** by the end of the year. In 2025, the number of IPOs increased further to ***. 

What does it mean to go public?

The management of a private company has a lot of control over its operation, but raising funds from investors is more difficult. To access funds from regular investors, that is the general public, firms go public by offering stock shares at a certain price. As a result, these firms often have more capital to work with. An IPO can, and often does, raise ******** of dollars for a firm. However, publicly traded companies also face increased regulation and disclosure requirements.

Staying private

Some firms delay going public for a longer time, in spite of their increasing value. If their valuation goes above *********** U.S. dollars, these firms are called unicorns, and the highest valued unicorns are mostly based in the U.S. and China. Some firms, such as SpaceX, are still heavily investing in research and development projects, which shareholders often dislike due to low short-run dividends. At the moment, most unicorns are found in the technology sector, which is also the leading sector for IPOs in the United States. This indicates that investors consider this to be the industry most likely to see growth, and thus most worth investing in when companies go public.