2026 IPO Wave: AI, Fintech & Cloud Firms Return—India’s Mega Deals in Sight

The IPO landscape heading into 2026 reflects a confluence of pent-up demand, improved macro expectations, and a shift toward higher scrutiny. After a subdued 2024 and a cautiously revived 2025, the primary market is benefiting from lower interest rates, clearer regulatory frameworks, and strong revenue growth in sectors like AI and cloud infrastructure. Many companies that delayed IPOs during regulatory or market volatility are now preparing confidential filings or underwriter engagements in anticipation of more favorable windows. [4][10]

However, size and valuation expectations are being tempered. CoreWeave—for example—aimed for over $35B and $3B+ in capital in early 2025 but ultimately priced much lower, raising $1.5B at around $19-23B valuation. This adjustment signals that even with strong revenue growth (CoreWeave’s 2024 revenue jumped ~737%) and high demand, investors are more conservative on pricing and risk. [16][10][17]

Recent IPOs show mixed post-listing performance. While Medline raised $6.26B and Andersen Group drew positive attention, many other high-profile listings—especially in fintech, crypto, AI or design platforms like Figma, Circle—have seen share prices drift below IPO prices or opening-day gains erode, highlighting sensitivity to initial buyer enthusiasm plus macro and regulatory headwinds. [16][4]

Internationally, India is developing a robust IPO pipeline. As many as 84 companies have regulatory approval to raise ≈₹1.14 lakh crore (~US$14-15B) and another 108 are awaiting clearance targeting ≈₹1.46 lakh crore in 2026. Leading names include Reliance Jio, NSE, Flipkart, PhonePe, OYO, SBI Mutual Fund, Navi Technologies, Zepto, Hero Fincorp, and boAt. These represent both traditional business models (telecom, mutual funds) and new-economy platforms. [15][17][5]

Strategic implications are significant both for issuers and investors. Issuers will need to balance ambition with discipline—valuations, reliance on cornerstone customers, debt loads, and governance are under sharper scrutiny. Investors are likely to focus on recurring revenue, profit margins or at least clear paths thereto, customer concentration risk, and proven management. Underwriters and legal advisors will be in high demand as confidentiality filings increase. Also, regional opportunities (e.g. India) may offer favorable risk‐reward, especially as global tech valuations adjust.

Open questions include: Will any of the mega-valued private AI/space companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic or Stripe actually file in 2026, and at what valuation? Can companies sustaining large net losses (like CoreWeave) prove profitability or durable margins post listing? How volatile will tech/AI/crypto sentiment be, especially if macro shocks (rate hikes, inflation, election risk) re-emerge? Also, will regulatory developments (e.g. in data privacy, stablecoin policy, trade tariffs) accelerate or hinder certain IPOs?