The Cause of Pause?

Only three of my top 10 ​upcoming IPOs of 2024​ (video) have pulled the trigger so far: Rubrik, Reddit, and Ibotta.

IPO volume is still better than in 2023 and 2022, and last week was the best in two years, thanks to the Lineage IPO.

But the blockbuster IPOs we hoped to see just haven’t moved forward.

So what’s the hold-up?

I fear the answer is a word nobody wants to read here: politics.

We might see a high-profile IPO or two launch between now and November, but Wall Street hates uncertainty, and the presidential election is a perfect excuse to wait until next year, regardless of the election outcome.

Another reason for waiting is that one of Silicon Valley’s own is on the ticket. JD Vance is a former venture capitalist with deep ties to Peter Thiel and other VC hobnobbers. As this ​Washington Post​ article explains (paywall), the connections run deep.

Interest rates are expected to fall, and the market is strong. There may be just one more hurdle until the IPO floodgates open.

Wiz Off

In the last newsletter, I mentioned that Google was planning to buy Israeli cloud cybersecurity company Wiz for $23 billion. This seemed peculiar because the Wiz founders had sold their previous business to Microsoft and were planning to control their public destiny.

Indeed, the deal is off. Now Wiz is planning to IPO again, aiming for 2025. Here’s my ​Wiz deep dive​ that explains it all.

Radar

• ​Vanta​ — This compliance software company just raised a new round, almost doubling its valuation. Vanta was an early holding in the ​Fundrise Innovation Fund​ (review), a VC fund that launched in 2022. It’s a nice win for those of us long.
• ​Cohere​ — The enterprise-focused AI LLM closed its Series D round at a $5.5 billion valuation
• ​Neuralink​ — Elon’s brain implant company is planning a tender offer at a $8 billion valuation, coming soon.

New Website Theme

I’ve finally updated the look of Access IPOs from a 2016-era website. It’s now easier to find the latest articles, including recent newsletters. ​Take a look​ at the new homepage.

In Case You Missed It…

I’m publishing these as blog posts now, so you can access them from my website home page.

• ​July 15th​ — The Hiive 50, New IPO Broker, Google Takes a Wiz
• ​July 1st​ — 7 Battery Startups Charging Toward IPOs

Conclusion

That’s all for this edition of the Access IPOs Newsletter. Reply to this email if you have any feedback. Consider joining our ​private Facebook Group​ and follow ​Access IPOs​ on X.

The newsletter is now semimonthly, meaning you’ll receive a new email on the 15th and last day of each month. However, I’ll be on vacation in early August and may skip the 15th newsletter if the news remain slow (it probably won’t be once I’m on vacation!).

Thanks for reading.

Featured photo via DepositPhotos used under license.