18 Apr IPO Market Comes Out of Hibernation

As the thermometer hits 79 today here in NY, the IPO market also seems to be thawing out of a long winter. Last week the BATS stock exchange went public and saw a 21% bump in its first day of post-IPO trading after raising about $250 million. BATS was significant as the first non-healthcare deal of 2016 and best first day “pop.”

Three more are set to go this week seeking to raise about $1.3 billion in total. Hopefully May and June, traditionally the busiest IPO months of the year, will see increases in new issues. And maybe the venture world will again begin to rediscover the IPO as a viable exit as was most common in the 1990s. Now 90% of VC exits are M&A deals where the returns are typically lower than a well-executed IPO.

In the meantime, the Regulation A+ IPO market is heating up for sure, even as oral arguments were completed last week on two states’ challenge to the SEC’s rules implemented under the JOBS Act. I am receiving more and more inquiries about this new and exciting regime, and with the completion of the ELIO deal, folks are starting to realize the potentially exciting upside opportunity with a simplified, streamlined IPO process under Regulation A, and less focus on that first day pop!