How to use the secondary market to find clues about who goes public first
Venture capitalists and Startup founders entered 2023 eagerly hoping for the return of the industry’s exit environment — specifically the resurgence of IPOs.
After 2021, a record year for IPOs, everything came to a standstill in 2022. PitchBook counted 296 venture-backed companies going public in 2021, doubling – or more – every year earlier. This fell 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 IPO in late 2021 or early 2022 that have yet to exit the private market. With many hoping that there will be exit opportunities in the second half of 2023, we are still curious to see which companies will go public first.
While not a perfect predictor by any means, the secondary market can provide hints as to how close some of these companies are to an IPO.
