The IPO reopening is real. Just look at Rubrik, the first unicorn to go public in months

Published Thu, Apr 25 20248:55 AM EDT

Last night data security firm Rubrik priced 23.5 million shares at $32, above the price talk of 23 million shares at $28-$31, raising $752 million. Rubrik is the first tech unicorn IPO since last fall. But Rubrik is only one of several companies going public in the next two weeks. Marex Group, a UK-based financial services company known for its global clearing business, priced 15.4 million shares at $19, the midpoint of the price talk of $18-$21, raising $292 million. It will trade today on Nasdaq. Loar Holdings, which makes aerospace and defense components, priced 11 million shares at $28, above the range of $24-$26, raising $308 million. It will trade today on the New York Stock Exchange. Next week, cruise operator Viking Holdings (VIK) will float 44 million shares at $21-$25, which at the midpoint will raise another $1 billion. Put it all together, and the total IPO haul for April will reach $4.8 billion. That is the third-biggest month in the last three years. It's the biggest month since last September, when $6.8 billion was raised, due almost entirely to Arm Holdings Plc , which alone raised $4.9 billion. May of 2023 had $4.9 billion, thanks largely to Kenvue , which raised $3.8 billion. Before that, you have to go back to December 2021, when $4.8 billion was raised. Biggest IPO months (since 2021) Sept. 2023 $6.8 billion May 2023 $4.9 b April 2024 $4.8 b Dec. 2021 $4.8 b Source: Renaissance Capital "This is what a slow rebuilding of the IPO market looks like," Matt Kennedy from Renaissance Capital told me. All eyes on Rubrik Rubrik is an important test of the tech IPO market. The only two software companies that have gone public recently, Ibotta and Klaviyo , are both fast growing and profitable. Rubrik has strong growth but still loses money. It reported a net loss of $354.2 million on revenue of $627.9 million in fiscal 2024, which ended Jan. 31, 2024. "It looks like investors are once again ready to bet on tech IPOs without near-term profitability," Kennedy told me. "Rubrik boasts some very fast growth, so that was a major draw." Climbing out of a two-year rut The IPO business is trying to emerge from its biggest downturn since the financial crisis, with the last two years among the worst in decades. IPOs: total raised 2023 $19.4 billion 2022 $7.7 b 2021 $142 b (record) 2020 $78 b 2019 $46 b 2018 $47 b Source: Renaissance Capital Helping sentiment is the fact that recent IPOs are above their offering price, with the biggest names all up double digits. Recent IPOs (from offering price) Centuri up 19% Ibotta up 19% UL Solutions up 21% PACS Group up 14% Reddit up 27% Also helping sentiment: improved valuations for private tech companies. The Forge Private Market Index, an index of 75 venture-backed, late-stage companies that are actively traded in the private market, climbed 5.2.% in March, its strongest monthly performance since 2021. "After two challenging years, the private market appears to be accelerating," Forge Global said in a report published today, noting that the successful IPOs of Astera Labs and Reddit , two tech unicorns, was a factor in driving higher private valuations. Though valuations are rising, they are still down. Companies are trading at an average discount of 51% compared to their last primary round of valuations, Forge Global noted. Lots of companies in the pipeline Other companies with public filings on offer include Waystar (hospital/medical billing software), and Turo, a car sharing service. Many companies prefer to file confidentially, which means the filing is not yet public, because it provides the most flexibility and companies don't have to reveal a lot of information to the public too soon. Companies that have confirmed they have filed confidentially or are believed to have done so include Ingram Micro (tech services/software), Circle (crypto/stablecoin), ServiceTitan (software for residential and commercial heating), Del Monte (canned fruit), Panera Bread (restaurant chain), and SeatGeek (online ticket marketplace). Other names that have not filed but are on the rumor list include Klarna (buy-now-pay-later), Databricks (data software), Epic Games (video games), Rokt (e-commerce/customized deals & discounts), Chobani (yogurt and coffee), Liquid Death (water) and Zipline (supply chain/drone delivery).