So the Wall Road Journal did an awesome job slicing and dicing IPO knowledge just lately. To me, probably the most jarring statistic was this one: 80% of IPOs since 2020 are trading below their IPO price, or “broken”:
So what, you would possibly suppose? Purchaser beware? Hooray for “environment friendly IPOs” that don’t depart cash on the desk, some say?
Maybe. However the issue is that this — when of us don’t earn cash off startups, every part gums up and slows down.
Most VC investments do have to earn cash. Not each one, however on steadiness, most do. That is even true at seed stage. There, even when most “logos” don’t earn cash, many of the {dollars} invested do have to earn cash. Most.
The 50% line is a giant deal at each stage of investing, at the least from seed to IPO. Most of your investing {dollars} do have to earn cash. Not all, however most.
However proper now, 80%+ of IPOs aren’t earning money, together with the latest “triumvirate” of 2023 IPOs that attempted to re-open the markets: Klaviyo, Instacart and ARM. All A+ firms.
Pricing can repair this, and re-pricing basically is in course of all throughout tech. The very best can at all times IPO, it’s only a query of value. But it surely takes time and plenty of ache. IPO’ing at 4x-5x ARR isn’t interesting to most break-out leaders.
If the IPO market is in its second 12 months of not likely functioning, that creates stress up and down the startup stack.
A associated put up right here:
Are We Again to a 6x World?
