venture capitalists and Startup founders entered 2023 eagerly awaiting the return of the industry’s exit environment, specifically, the resurgence of IPOs.
After 2021, a record year for IPOs, it all came to a halt in 2022. PitchBook counted 296 venture-backed companies going public in 2021, double, or more, any previous year. This plummeted to 28 in 2022, the lowest number recorded since 2009, amid the financial crisis.
There were a few companies, including Instacart, Chime, and Reddit, that filed for an initial public offering in late 2021 or early 2022 and have yet to exit the private market. As many expect exit opportunities to emerge again in the second half of 2023, we are still curious as to which companies will go public first.
While not a perfect predictor by any means, the secondary market could offer clues as to how close some of these companies are to going public.