The summer IPO window stayed open longer than usual this year due to previously-delayed listing timelines and surging demand for new issues. Nineteen IPOs raised a combined $3.0 billion in the busiest August for new issuance since 2020, twice as active as the month’s 10-year historical average (9 IPOs, $1.5B). Five issuers raised $100 million or more, led by cryptocurrency exchange Bullish (BLSH), which completed the year’s seventh billion-dollar IPO, putting 2025 closer to pre-COVID levels. The five larger IPOs delivered mostly positive trading and averaged an impressive 38% return, well above the overall return for all of the month’s IPOs (+14%). The Renaissance IPO Index jumped 8% in August, strongly outpacing the S&P 500 (+2%), thanks to continued improvement in appetite for growth stocks. New IPO filings reached a post-2021 high, picking up in the latter half of the month and providing more visibility into September activity. Eleven issuers filed to raise $100 million or more, led by a building services provider and a pair of tech unicorns. In the SPAC market, new blank check issuance slowed for the summer, and merger activity remained fairly muted, but new monthly filing activity reached a post-2021 high, a sign that the year’s SPAC surge will accelerate. The fall IPO market is on the horizon, and it looks like the long-awaited IPO pickup is finally here, bolstered by solid market conditions, filing activity and movement in the private backlog, and stronger optimism for a near-term rate cut. As long as demand for new issues holds, and the next wave of IPOs hold up, we expect to see a busy calendar in the coming months.
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