Fintech in Kazakhstan. Not an industry that comes up often. I certainly didn’t have “Kazakhstani super-app” on my bingo card for biggest IPOs of 2024.
But this week London-listed Kaspi.kz (Nasdaq: KSPI) raised $1 billion in its US IPO. Its $17.4 billion market cap made it the third-largest company to IPO in over 2 years.
I often say that over 90% of companies that go public are complete unknowns before they list. The investing risks are apparent, but there’s also two advantages.
Researching overlooked companies can give you an investing edge.
Learning about new companies is interesting, and might make you more interesting (what I tell myself, at least).
Kaspi also shows us that US IPO markets are the envy of the world. Even during a cyclical slowdown in 2022-2023, the US attracted large foreign listings from Israel (Mobileye), the UK (Arm), and Germany (Birkenstock). This year it’s Kazakhstan (Kaspi), Finland (Amer Sports), Brazil (JBS), China (likely SHEIN), and others. Simply put, the investors are here.
Coming up, the IPO market should have another billion-dollar week. Healthcare services provider BrightSpring Health (Nasdaq: BTSG) targets $880 million, led by Goldman and trading Friday. Immunotherapy developer CG Oncology (Nasdaq: CGON) plans to raise $201 million, led by Morgan Stanley, one of many biotechs expected this year.
Reuters reported that social media unicorn Reddit is coming public in March. Yes, Reddit’s been “imminent” since it filed confidentially in December 2021. But it now lines up with our prediction of a pickup in activity. Every tech unicorn will need to prove itself by hitting numbers as a public company, and an IPO starts that clock.
After a stellar year for IPO returns in 2023, stocks have had a wobbly start in 2024. The IPO Index shed -2.5% this week, vs. a +1.2% gain for the S&P 500. Rivian lost -14.3% amid an analyst downgrade, falling alongside other EV stocks. Recent Index addition Instacart led the winners up +12.6%, with Arm close behind.
Take care,
Bill Smith
Co-Founder and CEO
Renaissance Capital
|
Biggest price changes through
Jan 19th
in the
Renaissance IPO Index
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Top 5 | ||
| Instacart (Maplebear) | CART | 12.6% |
| Arm Holdings | ARM | 12.3% |
| GitLab | GTLB | 11.1% |
| DoubleVerify Holdings | DV | 8.2% |
| CAVA Group | CAVA | 7.8% |
| Bottom 5 | ||
| Rivian Automotive | RIVN | -14.3% |
| agilon health | AGL | -13.7% |
| Coupang | CPNG | -10.8% |
| Kanzhun | BZ | -10.5% |
| Remitly Global | RELY | -10.5% |
| Sectors | ||
| Industrials | 1.1% | |
| Financials | -0.3% | |
| Technology | -1.3% | |
| Consumer Discretionary | -1.7% | |
| Consumer Staples | -3.7% | |
| Health Care | -6.6% | |
Renaissance IPO ETF (NYSE symbol: IPO) tracks the Renaissance IPO Index
The Renaissance IPO Index returned -2.5% last week vs. 1.2% for the S&P 500.
