What are the most anticipated upcoming IPOs for 2022? What private companies are investors most excited to own?
Following the coattails of 2020, 2021 delivered dozens of high-profile IPOs and SPACs. Electric vehicles, video gaming, fintech, and cryptocurrency platforms all shared the limelight.
As always, the highest demand IPOs will be challenging to attain shares before the stocks begin trading.
Pre-IPO platforms such as Linqto provide early private equity access to accredited investors, but opportunities fill up quickly.
If you can’t get pre-IPO shares, you may still position yourself to profit by acquiring shares for the long-term after the IPO.
The most significant gains won’t come on the IPO date but over the following decade for the most disruptive companies.
But if you can get IPO shares at a lower cost basis before trading starts, all the better.
Check out our list of best brokers for IPO investing to determine if you can increase your chances of receiving an allocation.
With that, here’s a list of the most exciting and highly-anticipated upcoming IPOs for 2022 and beyond.
Some of these may follow a traditional IPO route, while others may look to utilize a SPAC (special purposes acquisition company) to go public. Still, others may remain private throughout 2022.
In any case, investors hope to see most of these companies IPO in 2022 or 2023 as market conditions permit.
I’ll update this list throughout the year as IPOs complete and additional deals hit the radar. View a list of notable 2021 IPOs here.
Table of Contents
1. Instacart IPO
Instacart is a grocery pickup and delivery service headquartered in San Francisco.
The company partners with more than 25,000 grocery stores and “big box” chains to hand-pick store items and deliver them to customers.
Customers shop online using the Instacart Marketplace via desktop or handheld devices.
Then Instacart hires personal shoppers who enter the stores, select and pack items, and deliver to the customers. Customers pay a delivery fee ($3.99) plus a 5% service fee. Tipping is also encouraged.
Reuters reported on November 12th that the company had chosen Goldman Sachs to lead the IPO at a $30 billion valuation.
On March 2nd, 2021, Instacart announced a $265 million round of funding, valuing the company at $39 billion.
Instacart is currently hiring new shoppers to meet the recent spike in demand.
Read more about the Instacart IPO.
2. Stripe IPO
Stripe is a financial technology company that develops payment processing platforms, including APIs (application programming interfaces) software as a service (SaaS) packages that enable digital payments.
Its APIs allow web and mobile app developers to integrate payments (both receiving and sending) into everyday business operations.
The company was founded in 2010 by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison. The same year it entered the Y Combinator startup accelerator program.
Stripe has 1 million + customers, ranging from small startups to the largest and most innovative corporations worldwide. Customers include Amazon, Shopify, Pelaton, Lyft, Zoom, Slack, Uber, Doordash, and OpenTable.
The Stripe mission statement:
Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet. Stripe is a technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet. Businesses of every size—from new startups to public companies—use our software to accept payments and manage their businesses online.
Company headquarters are in San Francisco.
Stripe raised a new round of funding in March 2021, valuing the company at $95 billion.
Read more about the Stripe IPO.
3. Databricks IPO
Databricks is a data science and artificial intelligence cloud and web-based software service. The company is on a mission to simplify and democratize data and AI, helping data teams solve the world’s toughest problems.
Its primary product is a web-enabled Unified Data Platform that empowers data engineers at Fortune 500 companies to import massive amounts of data from existing sources, then compile the data to provide business intelligence.
Understanding enterprise data optimizes operations and helps companies stay one step ahead of competitors.
In terms of what this company actually does, most people aren’t going to understand. The main takeaway is that data analytics is an extraordinary long-term trend over the decades to come, positioning Databricks to ride the wave.
Bloomberg reported in late 2020 that the company would pursue an IPO in 2020. However, the company completed a fresh round of private funding in early 2021, potentially delaying an inevitable public debut.
Read more about the Databricks IPO.
4. OpenSea IPO
OpenSea is an online marketplace for crypto collectibles and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Buyers and sellers of digital art, online domains, and other various crypto-related tokens use the platform for exchange.
OpenSea says this about NFTs:
NFTs have exciting new properties: they’re unique, provably scarce, tradeable, and usable across multiple applications. Just like physical goods, you can do whatever you want with them! You could throw them in the trash, gift them to a friend across the world, or go sell them on an open marketplace. But unlike physical goods, they’re armed with all the programmability of digital goods.
So long as buyers are willing to shell our digital currencies for digital assets, OpenSea stands to gain as a first mover.
The company has financial backing from some of the biggest names in crypto and venture capital, including Andreesen Horowitz, Coinbase, Paradigm, Coatue, and Y Combinator.
OpenSea announced a $300 million Series C round in January 2022, valuing the company at more than $13 billion.
5. Chime IPO
Chime* is an online financial app that has redesigned the way millennials manage their money. As of 2020, the company has more than 8 million customers.
Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC.
Customers conduct financial activity on the app or desktop platforms, and each receives a debit card for spending. Chime makes money on interchange fees each time a customer swipes their debit card.
In October 2021, Forbes reported that Chime is targeting a March 2022 IPO at a $35-$45 billion valuation.
Chime has hired Goldman Sachs as lead underwriter and is expected to IPO some time in 2022.
Along with Robinhood and Stripe, Chime* is one of several fintech apps and upcoming IPOs riding the wave of mobile technology efficiencies.
Read more about the Chime IPO.
6. Plaid IPO
Plaid is a financial technology (fintech) company that enables seamless connections between customers, financial institutions, fintech apps, and developers.
Plaid builds application programming interfaces (APIs) for the financial industry, including banking, lending, and investing services.
Beyond APIs, Plaid is becoming an analytics company, providing its customers with user insights and data.
The company has become a must-use platform for fintech, empowering startup and legacy financial institution developers to deliver a beautiful user experience.
In January 2021, Visa abandoned its plans to acquire Plaid due to antitrust concerns, making the startup one of the hottest fintech unicorns in the U.S.
The question now is whether Plaid will pursue a traditional or direct listing IPO, SPAC acquisition, or if another company tries to complete what Visa could not.
Read more about the Plaid IPO.
7. Impossible Foods IPO
Impossible Foods produces plant-based food that looks, feels, and tastes like meat.
They’re on a mission to save the Earth by creating products that replicate our experience eating meat but using plants and technology to make it happen.
The company’s signature product, the Impossible Burger, was launched in 2016 and is widely now sold in grocery stores and restaurants.
The Impossible Foods IPO will be closely watched after the massive success of its primary competitor, Beyond Meat, whose stock increased more than 100% within a few days of its IPO.
However, investors will need to be patient.
At this point, it’s not something that we need, and we can take our time. — Impossible Foods CEO Patrick Brown said at TechCrunch’s October 2019 Disrupt conference.
However, on April 8th, 2021, Reuters reported the company is in talks to go public via IPO or SPAC within the next 12 months. The valuation at the time of reporting was estimated at $10 billion.
Impossible Foods is based in Redwood City, CA.
Read more about the Impossible Foods IPO.
8. Epic Games IPO
Epic Games is a video game company based in Cary, NC. It’s best known as the creator of the first-person shooter game Fortnite, one of the ten most popular online games globally, with more than 350 million registered users.
Fortnite is free to play, but the company makes money from in-app purchases (that do not give players an advantage).
Since its founding, the company has created more than 50 games and recently acquired the HouseParty smartphone app and several other game development technologies.
It also created the Unreal Engine, a game development software framework for use by other game developers.
Epic Games was founded in 1991 by Tim Sweeney, who is the majority equity owner.
Read more about the Epic Games IPO.
9. Only Fans IPO
OnlyFans is a content subscription service and social media platform that empowers creators to earn money from online fans.
Popular with adult entertainers and social media influencers, creators charge a subscription fee to fans for premium photos and videos only available behind a paywall.
Users can buy bonus content and personalized media for an additional cost.
OnlyFans takes a flat 20% fee and earns about 12% after costs, according to the New York Times. Creators can charge whatever they like and keep the remaining 80%.
The business model eliminates the need for advertising and intermediaries (e.g., film producers, traditional adult websites), giving the creators more control of their content and business.
Its popularity has transcended the adult industry, now utilized by athletes, musicians, celebrities, comedians, health and spiritual experts, fitness gurus, chefs, and makeup artists.
However, the deep ties to adult-related content make questionable its ability to attract institutional investor demand as a private or public company.
A London-based private company called Fenix International Limited owns the OnlyFans service, which adult industry veteran Tim Stockley founded in 2016.
Stockley stepped down as CEO headed into 2022 to make way for a female CEO.
The company has more than 100 million users and has paid out more than $3 billion in creator earnings. In 2020, the company generated $2 billion in sales, according to Bloomberg, and $300 million in profit, according to The Information.
Read more about the Only Fans IPO.
10. Starlink IPO (SpaceX Spinoff)
Starlink is a business subsidiary of the private company SpaceX. SpaceX intends to build a low earth orbit satellite constellation that provides internet access to the world.
The web of satellites known as Starlink will connect to ground receivers, making it possible to provide internet at competitive prices, especially to underserved global communities. Internet speeds are expected to be 50Mbs to 150Mbs.
Customers will include governments and consumers. As of late 2020, nearly 1,000 satellites have been launched into orbit, and the service’s testing has commenced. The satellites ride the Falcon 9 rocket for insertion into orbit.
Twelve thousand satellites are expected to orbit Earth during the first phase, with the potential to increase that number to 42,000. SpaceX estimates the Starlink business could generate $30 billion by 2025.
In February 2020, CNBC confirmed SpaceX is considering a Starlink spinoff. A public Starlink company could help SpaceX raise funds for its primary objective, to put humans on Mars, by capitalizing on investors’ desires to ride the Midas touch of CEO Elon Musk.
Read more about the Starlink IPO.
11. Lime IPO
Lime is a micro-mobility company helping people complete the “last mile” in their communities. Lime provides bikes, electric scooters, and mopeds to its customers for easy and affordable transportation with a low carbon footprint.
Users download the mobile phone Lime app, then use it to locate the nearest vehicle and complete their ride. Most of their transportation devices are dockless, meaning customers unlock usage and pay completely through the app.
The company employs “juicers” who collect and charge vehicles when the battery levels are low, then return them to various “LimesHubs” for easy access in the mornings.
Founded in January 2017, the company has had various run-ins with local authorities regarding permits and safety issues. But these haven’t stopped growth.
Lime operates in more than 100 cities in the U.S. and worldwide. It expects to be profitable in 2021.
Read more about the Lime IPO.
12. Flexport IPO
Flexport is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) global logistics company that helps business customers manage their international shipping and supply chains. It’s a leading cloud software and data analytics platform provider for global trade.
The software empowers more than 10,000 customers to track global supply chains, including ocean, air, and trucking, to make data-driven decisions and streamline businesses.
Founder Ryan Peterson recognized that international shipping processes were stuck in another decade and saw an opportunity to disrupt the trillion-dollar freight industry.
Flexport was part of the Y Combinator W14 batch of early-stage startups and is a member of CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list.
Read more about the Flexport IPO.
13. Discord IPO
Discord is a digital platform used to create online communities. It uses voice (VoIP), video, chat, text, and media to enable private groups or people with like-minded interests to meet online securely and privately.
It was spawned from the video game industry and associated subreddit communities but has since expanded beyond gaming. Discord’s accelerated growth is due, in part, to privacy concerns with social media platforms such as Facebook.
Users can access Discord via software download, web browser, or mobile phone app.
Discord is not a social media platform. Rather, a software package of communication tools that serve communities of similar interests, more similar to Slack than Facebook.
The company was founded by Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevsky. The software was released in May of 2015.
Discord completed a $100 million funding round in late 2020 and is rumored to be pursuing its next multi-million round.
In 2021, Discord was #3 on CNBC’s Disruptor List.
Read more about the Discord IPO.
14. Acorns IPO
Acorns * is a “financial everything” technology app that popularized micro-investing, a strategy that involves frequent small investments. Its primary draw is the ability to ’round up’ spending amounts and invest dollar fractions into ETFs.
For example, if you spend $2.40 on a coffee, the app automatically invests $0.60 into a pre-determined portfolio of passive index ETFs. It’s also added a checking account, making it simple to manage spending and investing in one place.
It charges a low flat fee per month.
Acorns has partnered with CNBC to deliver educational features to promote financial wellness. The partnership offers inspiring stories and expert advice on fundamental personal finance and investing topics.
Given this relationship, Acorns-related news receives more TV coverage than other public offerings.
On May 27th, 2021, Acorns announced it will become a public company through a SPAC merger with Pioneer Merger Corp. (PACX). When the deal is complete, Acorns stock will trade under the symbol OAKS as a reference to the ‘mighty oaks’ that acorns eventually become.
The company was founded by father and son Walter Cruttenden and Jeffrey Cruttenden and is based in Irvine, CA.
Conclusion – Upcoming IPOs 2022
Dozens of companies will have their initial public offerings in 2022. This list attempts to include only those with the most investor interest.
If there are others you think should be on the list, contact me, or leave your reasons why in the comments below.
What upcoming IPOs are you most excited about? What broker do you use to access upcoming IPOs?
Unicorn illustration by Wild0ne via Pixabay
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