US IPO Weekly Winners & Losers

The first New Stock of the 2026 IPO market was a success.

Aktis Oncology (Nasdaq: AKTS) priced an upsized offering at the high end, giving the Phase 1 biotech a $1 billion market cap before it closed +24% above offer. A key pillar of the US IPO market, the biotech sector appears to be back for good after last year's dry spell.

While many companies are preparing to go public, the IPO calendar is currently empty for the next two weeks. A slow January wouldn’t be unusual, but it tells us the year’s anticipated IPO boom will have a gradual start.

In other words, there’s a massive backlog of startups that aim to go public sometime this year, but they’re comfortable waiting for just the right moment.

Three large public filings this week, from Brazilian fintech PicS (PicPay), electrical equipment maker Forgent Power Solutions, and LBO’d furniture retailer Bob's Discount Furniture. If you’re in the Northeast, you probably know Bob’s from their ubiquitous ads. Two more confidential filings as well, from social network Discord and fitness app Strava.

After lagging the S&P 500 in 2025, the US IPO market is off to a stronger start YTD (+4.0% vs. +1.8%). A proposed boost to US military spending made aerospace & defense contractor Karman Holdings the week’s top performer in the IPO Index with a +38.2% gain. Data connectivity firm Astera Labs shed -9.4% after the prior week’s rally.