The IPO market looks red hot if you squint at the right three companies. Look anywhere else, and it’s a different story entirely.
Matt Kennedy, Senior IPO Market Strategist at Renaissance Capital, has been making the case that what we’re witnessing isn’t broad-based IPO enthusiasm. It’s hyper-concentrated demand funneled into SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic, three companies that together could raise more capital than the rest of the IPO market combined.
Three deals, all the oxygen
US IPO proceeds hit $28.4 billion year-to-date as of mid-May 2026, according to Renaissance Capital. That sounds healthy enough. Then you consider what’s coming next.
SpaceX is set to list on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX on June 12, 2026, with an expected raise north of $50 billion. The valuation range sits between $1.5 trillion and $1.75 trillion. For context, Saudi Aramco’s 2019 IPO raised $29 billion, which held the record for nearly seven years. SpaceX alone could nearly double that number.
