Jul 2, 2026 – 5.00amSo far this year 17 companies have debuted on the Australian sharemarket, but only six of them are trading higher since hitting the boards, painting a grim picture for the state of the local IPO market.Even so, major investors such as Regal Partners and Wilson Asset Management are confident the middling performance won’t affect the highly anticipated initial public offerings of homegrown artificial intelligence players Firmus and Sharon AI that are expected later in the year.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles