The end of summer usually marks one of the slowest periods of the year for investment bankers.
This year, however, markets aren’t taking a vacation.
Halfway through August, the IPO market has already roughly doubled the amount of activity typically seen during the month, with 12 new issues worth at least $50 million raising some $2.9 billion in capital.
August typically saw nine IPOs raising an average of $1.5 billion collectively over the past decade, according to data from IPO research firm Renaissance Capital.
“There’s clear demand for new issues, and these companies are striking while the iron is hot,” Renaissance Capital director of investment strategies Avery Marquez said.
Marquez noted that given how the IPO market has been largely frozen in the past years, the surge in activity isn’t necessarily surprising. Still, he said, “these companies would likely not be going public right now if there wasn’t such a strong appetite for IPOs.”
This week, crypto exchange operator Bullish (BLSH) enjoyed the latest high-profile market debut, raising over $1 billion in its IPO and seeing its stock open at $90 per share, nearly triple the $37 where the company priced its offering.
At the close of its first day of trading, Bullish had a market cap of $10 billion, almost double the company’s IPO valuation.
The lack of a summer slowdown has been good for Wall Street banks, especially after predictions for a breakout year were shunted after tariff uncertainty defined much of the first half of the year.
At its current pace, August remains on track to see IPO activity match a strong July, which saw $5.2 billion raised on 29 IPOs, including one of the year’s most expected offerings in design software maker Figma (FIG).
Shares of Figma opened for trading on July 31 at more than double where the stock was priced, eventually gaining as much as 250% in a first-day pop. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Allen & Co., and JPMorgan led the company’s IPO process.
And just as has been the case in the broader market, tech and crypto names have been stars in the IPO market this year as well. Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL), fintech Chime (CHYM), and AI data center play CoreWeave (CRWV) all went public with well-received debuts.
The pipeline halfway through the third quarter appears robust through the end of 2025, with companies like Klarna and StubHub looking likely to join the party this year.
In the second quarter, JPMorgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Citigroup (C), and Morgan Stanley (MS) all reported increased revenue from equity underwriting fees over the previous quarter. Only JPMorgan’s fees were down year over year.
