Will we see any IPOs happening this year at all?
August is starting on a hopeful note.
As much as I care about technology, I am not saying this out of enthusiasm for generative AI or because we seem to be one step closer to room temperature superconductors becoming a reality.
If true, this “discovery could radically reshape wide swaths of our economy,” my colleague Tim De Chant wrote in light of a recent announcement about discovering room-temperature superconductors by a team from South Korea.
But that’s a big “if.” Experts are still doubtful because it’s simply too early to tell whether these extraordinary claims will hold up.
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So, no. Instead, my recently recovered optimism stems from the brightening macroeconomic climate that is lowering the pressure on public and private tech companies alike. Inflation in the U.S. eased off for the 12th straight month in June, and that trend is starting to bring relief to tech valuations.
But it is not just tech valuations that are perking up. We recently listed eight reasons why the venture capital market is doing better than most people think. From a modest recovery in the number of mega-rounds to the slowdown in tech layoffs, we’re seeing green shoots poking up, and that makes us more confident about the rest of the year.
If market conditions continue to improve, it’s only a matter of time until we see a new crop of IPOs. But that might not happen as soon as you’d think.
A question of time
“With the Nasdaq up nearly 40% this year, the software IPO window may be thawing,” investor Jamin Ball wrote. A partner at Altimeter, he took this data point as a sign that it was time to refresh his primer on the IPO process.
How soon founders will be able to enact this playbook, however, remains to be seen. In a recent blog post, SaaS expert Jason Lemkin ventured that “the second half of 2024 could be really good for SaaS,” with a “flood of strong SaaS IPOs.”
