Investors look forward to major events in 2021 as it becomes the second big consecutive year for IPOs

It is said that the financial market can never be completely understood and well, there’s no denying it. While 2020 saw the rise and fall in so many sections, Initial Public Offerings emerged as the fourth runner with 494 IPOs raising a combined USD 174 billion. To take note of how significant this number is, consider the fact that both the number of offerings and the amount raised were record time high, as per data released by the FactSet. About 15 Indian companies were a part of this extensive number, with some IPOs like Happiest Minds, Chemcon Specialty, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Burger King and Mrs Bectors’ being subscribed more than 149 times. Some major IPOs from India and across the world are expected to go live this year, for whom the investors have been sitting on their toes. We can expect the pace to be maintained in the coming times because the rock bottom interest rates and continued post-pandemic spending packages are expected to keep demand for new issues high, and there’s no shortage of quality private companies looking to tap public markets.

Bumble

One such big name is Bumble. With the dating app gaining momentum in the pandemic period, Bumble came out as one of the most anticipated IPOs that didn’t go public in 2020, leaving investors with their eyes wide open. Well, let’s just say the company won’t leave us wanting more this year as the company is seeking to raise more than $1 billion from its 2021 IPO, which will see the company list on the NASDAQ under the symbol “BMBL”. Having entered 2021 as the single hottest company tapping the public markets in the said year, the app with a user base of 1 million people is said to double the current selection of dating app stocks. This sounds like a piece of good news for the investors since Tinder Parent Match Group has reigned over the bullish sector as the only option for investment.  The potential IPO valuation for 2021 is said to reach around USD 6 billion.

InMobi Pte

InMobi Pte’s plan to list itself in the United States by the end of the year 2021 also came as a major conversation starter between investors, with the Mobile Advertising service agency’s valuation between USD 12 to 15 billion. One of the major reasons for the hype is the fact that the tech start-up is India’s first company to reach Unicorn status with venture funding. A unicorn company, or unicorn start-up, is a private company with a valuation of over $1 billion. While there are more than 600 unicorns around the world as of March 2021, India just paved the way for its first stock listed unicorn. As a result, the company’s news to kick off the IPO process in a few weeks from now could make the company India’s first Unicorn to directly list itself in the US stock exchange. This could also come as a representative of the country’s shift beyond technology and outsourcing services, opening doors for newer opportunities in the country.

Instacart

The pandemic saw a whopping rise in the popularity of e-commerce and Instacart was one such creative initiative launched that gained momentum in the US in 2020, with the company hitting three years’ worth of growth metrics in a period of 30 days. Having raised financing at USD 17.7 billion valuations last year, the company is much anticipated to launch an IPO in 2021, with Goldman Sachs reportedly playing the role of its lead underwriter. With a potential 2021 IPO valuation between USD 17.7 billion and 30 billion, the grocery cart is anxious to go public especially considering its close counterpart Doorbash which saw rapid investor demand on its first day of trading last year.

Robinhood markets

As mentioned, uncertainty and the financial market move hand in hand. Well, if you need an example to believe it, go no far because our next big name- Robinhood markets- is just an example of it. Starting 2021 it is definitely one of the hottest upcoming IPOs for the year, Robinhood’s valuation just three months in the year is widely varying. The app that resulted in a paradigm shift in the brokerage industry recently lost all its popularity particularly overnight after it banned its users from buying GameStop and a number of other hot Reddit stocks, a story we’re all aware of. A few days after the incident followed, Robinhood raised $3.4 billion through existing investors and by tapping revolving credit lines. Whether through an IPO, direct listing or special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Robinhood is likely to be public by the end of 2021. For now, let’s just suffice to say a potential IPO valuation between USD 10 billion to 20 billion is coming our way. 

Stripe

There used to be a discussion on how America used to be behind on digital payments, well not anymore, thanks to this one big-name- Stripe. With the anticipation of Stripe making the private to public leap in 2021, we can already see the Payment Processing Software Company being the most valuable company to have taken the jump in 2021. Having raised $600 million at a $36 billion price tag in April 2020, news broke that the company sought to raise an additional capital amount at valuations between USD 70 billion to 100 billion. Stripe has the cachet and investor demand to stay private indefinitely at this point, so if it doesn’t go public in 2021, it will remain a sought-after private company for years to come. Let’s just wait to see how many years of investor temptation would the company await.

Others

Some other big names like Roblox, Coinbase and UiPath are also said to make their way from private to public in 2021 and we can already see the year becoming a big one for Initial Public offerings, for the second consecutive term.