The 2025 US IPO Market: Volumes, Sector Performance, and Notable Deals

Introduction

The 2025 US IPO market delivered the most active year since 2021, with 202 traditional IPOs raising approximately $44 billion in total proceeds (354 deals when including SPACs and other equity-market offerings). The recovery was broad-based across sectors but bifurcated by deal quality: the 10 largest IPOs alone raised $17.8 billion combined, with the marquee deals (CoreWeave, Figma, Klarna, Medline, Circle Internet, Bullish) driving most of the headline narrative. Nasdaq captured 81 percent of new listings and raised $46.65 billion including spot IPOs and follow-on activity, the exchange's highest volume since 2021. Sector leadership shifted: technology led with 44 IPOs at $9.6 billion (driven heavily by CoreWeave's AI infrastructure listing), healthcare followed with 34 IPOs at $10.6 billion (anchored by Medline's $6 billion+ raise as the year's largest), and crypto/blockchain emerged as a distinctive 2025 sub-segment with Circle, Bullish, eToro, and Figure all listing successfully. CoreWeave (priced $40 below indicated $47-$55, traded flat day one, finished +225 percent), Figma (250 percent first-day pop, then 57 percent peak-to-year-end pullback), Klarna (cleared at a $15.1 billion valuation versus its 2021 $45.6 billion private peak), Bullish (175 percent open, 52 percent year-end decline), and Medline (the year's largest single IPO at $6 billion+) collectively define what the 2025 cycle actually looked like underneath the headline numbers.

The 2025 US IPO recovery is most clearly visible in the volume statistics.

Deal Count and Proceeds

The market produced 202 traditional IPOs in 2025 according to Renaissance Capital, raising approximately $44 billion in non-SPAC IPO proceeds. Including SPACs and other equity-market offerings, total US IPOs reached 354 across the year. The deal count alone matched the full-year 2024 total by Q3 2025, illustrating the cycle's acceleration through the year. Capital raised was up materially from 2024.

The Mega-IPO Concentration

The 10 largest 2025 IPOs raised $17.8 billion combined, with each individual deal raising $1 billion or more. The concentration reflects the year's bifurcated dynamic: large premium issuers attracted disproportionate institutional capital while mid-market and smaller IPOs faced more selectivity.

US IPO Bifurcation

The 2025 pattern in which the US IPO market produced strong overall volumes ($44 billion of traditional IPO proceeds, 202 deals) while underlying outcomes diverged sharply between premium issuers (large-cap, AI-aligned, healthcare innovation, sponsor-backed with strong fundamentals) and the broader market. Premium IPOs commanded oversubscribed bookbuilds, tight pricing, and clean post-IPO trading; mid-market and weaker-fundamentals IPOs faced wider discounts, broken first-day trading, or post-IPO declines. The bifurcation pattern is expected to persist into 2026 even as headline volumes rise.

Exchange Leadership

Nasdaq captured 81 percent of US IPO listings in 2025 and raised $25 billion on IPO day across new listings, with total Nasdaq capital raised including follow-ons reaching $46.65 billion (the highest since 2021). The Nasdaq leadership reflected the technology and healthcare sector concentrations that drove 2025 issuance, with NYSE capturing the remaining mega-listings (Klarna, Medline) plus selected industrial and consumer issuers.

The 2025 sector mix illustrates where the IPO market reopening concentrated.

Technology (44 IPOs, $9.6 billion)

Technology led 2025 IPO activity with 44 deals raising $9.6 billion in IPO proceeds. CoreWeave's $1.5 billion raise at $40 per share was the headline technology deal, with the stock subsequently rising 225 percent through year-end (an outsized winner among the year's tech IPOs). Other notable technology deals included Figma ($1.22 billion raised), various AI infrastructure plays, and selected fintech listings. IT services was the best-performing IPO subsector overall, with a 67.8 percent increase in IPO value driven almost entirely by CoreWeave's 79 percent share-price increase.

Healthcare (34 IPOs, $10.6 billion)

Healthcare followed closely with 34 IPOs raising $10.6 billion, anchored by Medline's $6 billion+ raise as the year's largest single IPO. Six of the 23 billion-dollar US IPOs in 2025 came from biotech and healthcare. The healthcare sector's strong dollar-volume performance despite fewer total deals reflected the sector's premium-issuer concentration.

Crypto and Blockchain (4 billion-dollar listings)

Crypto and blockchain emerged as a distinctive 2025 sub-segment with 4 billion-dollar listings: Circle Internet (USDC issuer), Bullish ($1.1 billion raised), eToro, and Figure. Circle priced at $31 and closed first day at $83.23 (168 percent pop). Bullish priced at $37 and opened at $102 (175 percent open). The crypto IPOs' performance varied substantially across deals and through the year.

Fintech (3 billion-dollar listings)

Fintech contributed 3 billion-dollar listings including Klarna ($1.37 billion raised at $15.1 billion valuation, materially below its 2021 private peak of $45.6 billion) and selected payments and banking-platform issuers.

Other Sectors

Consumer Discretionary led IPO count with 50 issues but raised just $3.49 billion, reflecting smaller average deal sizes. Insurance and aerospace each contributed 2 billion-dollar listings. Industrials and materials saw selective IPO activity but not at the headline-deal scale.

Five 2025 IPOs particularly defined the year's narrative.

CoreWeave (March 2025)

CoreWeave priced at $40 per share (below indicated $47-$55 range) and raised $1.5 billion. Despite the technically oversubscribed bookbuild (including a $250 million Nvidia order and $350 million OpenAI commitment tied to a separate $11.9 billion five-year contract), the deal slimmed in size before pricing. First-day trading was flat at the offering price, but the stock rallied 42 percent within three trading days and ultimately rose 225 percent through year-end. CoreWeave became the year's largest tech IPO since 2021 and the marquee AI-infrastructure listing.

Medline (Late 2025)

Medline became the year's largest single IPO at $6 billion+ of proceeds, listed on NYSE. The healthcare distribution leader's listing reflected the multi-year sponsor backlog finally clearing through public markets, with sponsors monetizing the position through staged sell-downs over subsequent quarters.

Figma (July 2025)

Figma listed in July following its blocked Adobe merger, raising $1.22 billion. The IPO produced the year's most dramatic first-day pop (250 percent at close) but subsequently fell 57 percent through year-end, illustrating the bifurcated 2025 IPO trajectory of strong opens followed by post-pop bloodletting.

Klarna (September 2025)

Klarna listed on NYSE in September, raising $1.37 billion at a $15.1 billion valuation, materially below its 2021 private peak of $45.6 billion. The IPO represented the staged downward valuation reset that several growth-era unicorns experienced through their public-market transitions, though the company's first-day 15 percent pop suggested the reset had already cleared market expectations.

Bullish (August 2025)

Bullish priced at $37 per share, raised $1.1 billion, and opened at $102 (175 percent above offering). The stock closed first day at $68 (84 percent first-day pop) but subsequently lost 52 percent of value through year-end, reflecting the crypto-IPO-specific volatility pattern.

Beyond the headline five, several other 2025 IPOs warrant attention.

Circle Internet Group (June 2025)

Circle (NYSE: CRCL), the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, priced at $31 per share and closed first day at $83.23 for a 168 percent first-day pop, one of the year's largest. The IPO was oversubscribed multiple times, reflecting strong investor appetite for compliant crypto-platform exposure. Circle subsequently traded volatilely with the broader crypto cycle but remained materially above its IPO price through year-end.

Venture Global (Early 2025)

Venture Global LNG cut its share price by over 40 percent before listing, with shares still falling after launch, illustrating the year's tail-end of pricing discipline failures. The deal was a notable example of how even large pre-IPO valuations can compress materially through the public-market transition when investor scrutiny is high.

SailPoint (H1 2025)

SailPoint, the only enterprise software IPO of H1 2025, priced and subsequently traded 25 percent below issue within four months. The outcome reflected the specific post-IPO challenge facing enterprise software at the broader sector's compressed multiples in 2025.

Chime (Mid-2025)

Chime, the digital banking platform, priced its IPO with strong investor demand and traded materially above its offering price post-listing. The deal validated the durable demand for premium-quality fintech listings even amid the broader crypto and growth-tech volatility.

Various Biotech IPOs

The 34 healthcare and biotech IPOs in 2025 included a mix of clinical-stage and commercial-stage issuers, with the crossover-investor universe (RA Capital, Perceptive, Baker Brothers) anchoring multiple deals. Biotech IPO volumes specifically drew strong demand for late-stage clinical assets with near-term commercialization paths.

The 2025 US IPO cohort's year-end performance illustrated the bifurcated outcome dynamic.

Strong Year-End Performers

CoreWeave +225 percent from IPO (the year's strongest large-cap IPO performer); Circle Internet with sustained gains despite crypto volatility; selected biotech and healthcare innovation deals appreciated on clinical milestones; mature industrial and consumer plays held meaningful gains relative to offering prices.

Materially Underperforming Deals

Figma fell 57 percent from peak (still up 64 percent from IPO at year-end); Klarna declined 26 percent from IPO price; Bullish lost 52 percent of value; Venture Global continued declining; SailPoint traded 25 percent below issue.

The Broad Pattern

Across the 20 largest 2025 IPOs, 11 deals fell 40+ percent from intraday highs by Friday December 26, with 4 (including Figma) falling 73+ percent from peaks. The pattern reflects both the elevated initial demand at offering and the subsequent supply-absorption pressure as cornerstone lockups expired and momentum-driven holders rotated out. ECM bankers analyzing the post-IPO patterns identify the structural causes (overpriced offerings, weak fundamentals revealed in early earnings, sector rotation away from the issuer's specific theme) as inputs into 2026 mandate selection.

The Renaissance Capital 2025 US IPO Annual Review surfaced specific first-day and aftermarket metrics that inform how ECM bankers calibrate 2026 pricing recommendations.

The 35 Percent Average First-Day Return

The 2025 cohort produced an average first-day return of 35 percent, the highest in any year of the past decade and materially above 2020's prior cycle peak of 28 percent. The number reflects both the cycle's high cornerstone-driven demand and the disciplined pricing from issuers who left explicit upside on the table to support the post-IPO trading dynamic. ECM teams running 2026 bake-offs cite the 35 percent figure when issuers ask about realistic first-day pops: the answer is "extreme outliers reached 200 percent plus, but the cycle average that produced clean trading was around 35 percent."

Healthcare and Tech Sector Splits

Healthcare IPOs averaged 52 percent first-day returns, the strongest sector outcome of the year. Metsera's roughly 47 percent first-day pop (closing at $26.50 from an $18 IPO) was a striking individual data point, followed by other oncology and clinical-stage biotech names that opened materially above their offering prices. The healthcare strength reflected both the crossover-investor anchor demand (RA Capital, Perceptive, Baker Brothers) and the underlying scientific milestones supporting valuations.

Technology IPOs as a sector averaged a negative 7 percent first-day return, surprising many observers given the AI-cycle backdrop. The negative average reflected the broader tech IPO group including smaller deals that priced into compressed sentiment. The $100 million-plus technology IPO subgroup delivered a positive 2 percent first-day return on average, supported almost entirely by Circle Internet's triple-digit gain. Only roughly 25 percent of the larger tech IPOs finished their first day above issue, illustrating how the tech sector's headline cycle masked individual-deal weakness across most listings.

Renaissance IPO Index Performance vs Broader Indices

The Renaissance IPO Index returned approximately 5 percent in 2025, materially trailing the S&P 500's 16 percent return and the Nasdaq Composite's stronger advance. The index underperformance reflected the post-IPO bloodletting pattern: even as the headline IPO volumes recovered, the resulting cohort's compounded performance lagged the broader equity market, creating an underlying tension between the IPO market's apparent reopening and the actual long-only investor experience holding the cohort.

Filings and Withdrawals

The 2025 market produced 262 IPO filings against 202 actual pricings, a 22 percent year-over-year increase in initial filings that reflects the deepening pipeline. Thirty-six 2025 IPO filings were withdrawn (ranging from listing-window issues, valuation gaps, market-condition changes, and deal-specific challenges). The filed-versus-priced ratio supports the narrative that the 2026 pipeline has substantial backlog beyond the 2025 actuals, with shutdown-delayed deals and 2025 withdrawals positioned for 2026 reentry.

Aftermarket Trajectory

The 2025 IPO cohort's aftermarket trajectory delivered a small positive 2 percent gain on average through year-end (versus the 35 percent first-day pop), illustrating the post-IPO supply-absorption pressure as cornerstones reduced and momentum holders rotated. Karman's strong aftermarket trajectory (defense and aerospace exposure to the elevated US defense-budget cycle) and CoreWeave's sustained 225 percent year-end gain were the marquee aftermarket winners; Figma's 57 percent peak-to-year-end pullback and Bullish's 52 percent decline anchored the underperformer cohort. ECM bankers internalize the 2 percent aftermarket aggregate as the sober counterweight to the 35 percent first-day pop headline, reminding clients that disciplined pricing supports durable post-IPO outcomes.

The 2025 US IPO bookrunner league table reflected the structural concentration among the major bulge brackets plus selected sector specialists.

The Top Tier

Goldman Sachs led the 2025 US IPO league table with strong representation across the year's largest deals (CoreWeave, Figma, multiple healthcare deals, Medline), capturing approximately $8.9 billion in 2025 ECM fees overall. Morgan Stanley anchored several premier deals (Klarna lead-left, multiple consumer and industrial IPOs) and led APAC ECM in Q3 2025. JPMorgan participated as bookrunner across most large 2025 deals and led several mid-market mandates, capturing $10.1 billion in total IB fees including capital markets.

Bulge Bracket Tier

Bank of America, Citi, Barclays, UBS, and Deutsche Bank rounded out the major bulge-bracket participation, with each capturing meaningful league-table credit through specific franchise strengths (BofA in healthcare, Citi in EMEA cross-border, Barclays in European deals, UBS in APAC).

Sector Specialists

Sector specialists Cowen and SVB Leerink (now part of Leerink Partners) led healthcare and biotech IPO activity with strong franchise positioning in clinical-stage and commercial-stage life sciences listings. The healthcare specialist franchise differentiates from the broader bulge-bracket competition.

Mid-Market Specialists

Jefferies, William Blair, Stifel, Piper Sandler, and Raymond James led mid-market US IPO activity, capturing meaningful sub-segment market share from the larger banks. The mid-market specialist franchise has been a relative beneficiary of the 2024-2025 sponsor backlog clearing, with sponsors selecting mid-market specialists for sub-$500 million listings where the bulge brackets are less aggressive.

The investor demand picture across 2025 IPOs revealed structural patterns worth understanding.

Crossover and Sovereign Wealth Anchor Activity

Crossover funds (RA Capital, Perceptive, Baker Brothers in biotech; Tiger Global, Coatue in tech) anchored multiple 2025 IPOs with substantial commitments. Sovereign wealth funds (GIC, Temasek, ADIA, Mubadala, QIA) participated as cornerstone investors on selected mega-deals. Saudi PIF's $36.2 billion total 2025 deployment and Mubadala's $29.2 billion across 52 deals reflect the elevated SWF activity that supported large IPO bookbuilds. Combined Gulf SWFs deployed $126 billion in 2025 (43 percent of total global sovereign investment spending).

Long-Only Mutual Fund Participation

Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Capital Group, BlackRock, Wellington, and Dodge & Cox provided the long-only mutual fund anchor for most 2025 large-cap IPOs. The long-only universe absorbed substantial primary supply across the year and provided the multi-year holding stability that issuers and ECM bankers value. Long-only commitment patterns held meaningfully across 2025, supporting the year's strong overall recovery.

Hedge Fund Flow

Multi-strategy hedge funds (Citadel, Millennium) and the Tiger Cubs (Tiger Global, Coatue, Lone Pine, Viking, Light Street) participated across the year. Tiger Global's involvement in Wealthfront's Q4 2025 IPO (selling 7 million shares at the $14 IPO price, reducing from 20 to 10 percent ownership) illustrates the recurring late-stage-private-to-IPO transition pattern.

Retail Participation Through Mobile Brokers

Retail participation in 2025 IPOs expanded through Robinhood, Public, and other mobile platforms providing IPO access to retail investors. Consumer-brand and crypto IPOs particularly attracted retail demand, with retail allocation shares reaching 15-25 percent on selected deals (versus the historical 5-10 percent baseline).

The 2025 US IPO market in historical context.

vs 2021 Bubble Peak

The 2021 US IPO peak produced approximately $286 billion of IPO proceeds across nearly 1,000 deals (traditional plus SPAC IPOs). 2025's $44 billion of traditional IPO proceeds is roughly 15 percent of the 2021 peak, achieved with materially fewer total deals and meaningfully more disciplined pricing. The volume comparison illustrates how far the 2021 market overshoot has had to unwind, but also how meaningful the 2025 recovery is in absolute terms despite remaining well below the 2021 outlier.

vs 2022-2024 Trough

The 2022 US IPO market collapsed to under $10 billion of traditional IPO proceeds as rate volatility, post-COVID multiple compression, and SPAC blowback closed the IPO window. 2023 and 2024 saw modest recoveries with 2024 reaching approximately $30 billion of proceeds. The 2025 $44 billion represents a 47 percent year-over-year increase from 2024 and approximately 5x the 2022 trough, validating the structural reopening of the IPO market.

Where 2026 Might Land

The 2026 US IPO outlook supports continued expansion: SpaceX (planning approximately $50 billion+ offering with a June 2026 roadshow target), OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, and other mega-IPO candidates collectively could produce a year approaching or exceeding $80-100 billion of traditional IPO proceeds, with the exact level depending on how the mega-IPO pipeline executes. The Q1 2026 calendar is dense with IPOs delayed by the late-2025 federal shutdown, providing immediate volume and franchise opportunity for ECM bankers entering the new year.

The 2025 US IPO market detail above provides the specific volume and deal context for the broader 2025 ECM recap. The next article walks through the federal shutdown of late 2025 and how it specifically reshaped Q4 2025 issuance and the 2026 calendar.