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The IPO market has been relatively quiet in 2023, with IPO proceeds of $16.7 billion during the first three quarters of the year compared to the high level seen in 2021, when $142.5 billion in IPO proceeds were generated. The outlook appears improved for 2024, with The Federal Reserve hoped to lower interest rates in reaction to cooling inflation rates. “Investors have returned to looking for growth assets and IPOs offer that option,” Bank of America's Jim Cooney said of the setup for 2024. Some of the major expected IPOs are listed below.
Florida-based Fanatics (FANA) is expected to hit the public market after making several acquisitions in recent years, including Topps trading cards and clothing brand Mitchell & Ness. Fanatics is best known for the exclusive licensing agreements it has with the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, and colleges and universities to manufacture and sell official team merchandise. The company is also expected to make an even stronger push into sports betting after acquiring the US assets of PointsBet (OTCQX:PBTHF) for $150 million. In particular, Fanatics saw search interest for its betting app skyrocket in November. During a Fanatics (FANA) investor event earlier this year, representatives from the NBA Players Association and Las Vegas Raiders minority owner Tom Brady offered their support. Fanatics was recently valued at $31 billion.
Fast fashion Shein has already confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the U.S. The IPO is expected to occur next year and aims to achieve a valuation of $90 billion, which is higher than current market capitalizations for e-commerce players such as MercadoLibre (MELI), JD.com (JD), Coupang (CPNG), and eBay (EBAY). Shein was founded in 2012 with a disruptive model of shipping products directly from factories in China to consumers in the West. The company generated revenue of $22.7 billion in 2022 and $14.7 billion during the first six months of 2023. Shein is the market share leader in the fast fashion sector ahead of Inditex (OTCPK:IDEXY), H&M (OTCPK:HNNMY), Primark, ASOS (OTCPK:ASOMF), Boohoo (OTC:BHHOF) and Forever 21. Even before going public, Shein has attracted negative attention from environmentalists and labor rights advocates. Major investors include Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, private equity group Sequoia China and private equity group General Atlantic.
Reddit (REDDIT) selected banks in March 2022 to help prepare for an IPO, but was sidelined by the Federal Reserve's rate hikes and the sense of risk aversion that followed. The social news aggregation company earned a $10 billion valuation last August after raising more than $400 million in funding from Fidelity and others. However, subsequent valuations have been much lower. For its part, Reddit (REDDIT) appears to have a greater focus on profitability after announcing that it would begin imposing data speed caps on the free access tier of its API tool. Reddit (REDDIT) has seen some internal turmoil this year after non-staff moderators of some popular sections protested the social network's plan to start charging some developers for access to their data. Reddit is a competitor with a wide variety of websites and platforms to attract social media attention, such as Tumblr, Quora, Instagram, Facebook (META), TikTok and X. Analysts believe that a Reddit IPO during a heated election year in the US has some potential to generate viral rumors. .
Clothing brand SKIMS is in talks to go public as early as 2024. The company, co-founded by Kim Kardashian, Emma Grede and Jens Grede, was valued earlier this year at $4 billion during a Series C funding round. In addition to shapewear, Skims has launched many different collections of loungewear, lingerie and accessories, including bras, underwear, bodysuits, dresses, shorts, sweatpants, blouses, hoodies, sweaters and flip-flops. In October, the SKIMS men's line was launched as the Kim Kardashian-led company continues to move forward with an aggressive growth strategy. The new line includes men's underwear, t-shirts and tank tops. Celebrity endorsers include NFL player Nick Bosa and Brazilian soccer superstar Neymar. Interestingly, the National Basketball Association and Skims announced this week a multi-year partnership to make Skims the official underwear partner of the NBA, Women's National Basketball Association and USA Basketball. BTIG analyst Janine Stichter said SKIMS said the SKIMS business has been impressive in its ability to scale in a short period of time, despite the lack of a permanent physical retail presence. “In addition to the benefits of linking up with a major celebrity like Kim Kardashian, the company's strong growth can be attributed in part to its ability to expand beyond its shapewear roots.” Skims is already valued higher than established retail players like Under Armor (UAA), Oxford Industries (OXM), Canada Goose (GOOS), Urban Outfitters (URBN), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), and Hanesbrands (HBI). The company is on track to achieve 50% year-over-year revenue growth this year for an annual figure of $750 million.
Panera could revolutionize the restaurant industry after confidentially filing an initial public offering. Sources indicate that the restaurant chain attempted to sell itself through a continuation fund earlier this year, but was unable to gain support and ultimately had to lay off 17% of its workforce to streamline operations and improve performance sooner. to be listed on the stock market. Panera recently made deep cuts to its corporate staff to cut costs ahead of a possible initial public offering. Panera had been public until 2017, when investment firm JAB Holdings took it private. Expanding its coffee and breakfast empire, investment group JAB acquired Panera Bread for $7 billion in 2017, adding to its portfolio that now includes Einstein Bros. Bagels and Caribou Coffee. Analysts believe the strong reception from CAVA Group (CAVA) is a positive sign of how Panera will fare in its second act as a public company. Of course, Panera competes with Starbucks (SBUX), Dutch Bros (BROS), Sweetgreen (SG), Chipotle (CMG), and others during the time slots.
Other possible IPOs in 2024 with the potential to generate buzz include the public debuts of SpaceX (SPACE), Impossible Foods (IMPF), Databricks, Sygenta Group, CVC Capital Partners, Chime, Klarna, Stripe, Cerebras Systems, SeatGeek, ServiceTitan and Discord. . Add your own IPO candidates in the comments stream or choose your winner from the pool.
