If 2021 is any indication, 2022 could be a banner year for the IPO market.
By the end of the third quarter this year, 1,635 companies had gone public around the world, a number that’s higher than the year-end totals of 2018, 2019, and 2020—and one that’s certain to top 2017 by December 31. Favorable market conditions have spurred many companies to make the jump.
Things haven’t been quite so rosy for SPACs (special-purpose acquisition companies) or IPOs (initial public offerings) in the tech sector, though. More than 50 tech companies have gone public this year, and virtually all of them are 20% or more off of their peak stock prices. Nearly half have lost 50% or more of their value since reaching their highs (though none have performed as poorly as Robinhood, which is off about 75% from its high of $85 per share in August).
Still, that hasn’t discouraged companies from entering the IPO pipeline. Several big names are expected to debut in the next 12 months. Here’s a look at some of the most notable (though, to date, none have filed an S1—basically a registration statement—with the Securities and Exchange Commission).
Stripe
With a valuation of $95 billion, Stripe is the IPO most market observers have their eyes on. Founded 12 years ago by brothers John and Patrick Collison, the payment-processing company has grown into a global force, with more than 4,000 employees, a customer base that includes Amazon and DoorDash, and reported revenue of more than $7.5 billion per year.
Discord
Founders Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy launched Discord in 2015 to create a better communications tool for their remote developer teams. When gamers embraced the chat app, though, there was no looking back. Today, it boasts 150 million active monthly users. A $10 billion acquisition by Microsoft fell through last year, but Discord is a cash-rich company. Its latest financing round raised $500 million, bringing its valuation to $15 billion.
Mobileye
Intel acquired this Israeli autonomous driving firm for $15.3 billion four years ago. On December 7, it announced plans to take it public in the middle of 2022. Founded in Jerusalem by Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram in 1999, Mobileye is one of Israel’s biggest tech success stories and the company could be valued at more than $50 billion, per some reports. Intel’s CEO told CNBC that the division’s sales have tripled since Intel took it over, with nearly $1 billion in revenue last year.
