After a few years of initial public offerings, or IPOs, than usual, the number of companies going public is increasing, thanks to SpaceX’s first share on June 12.
Less than a week after its record IPO, the stock has gained 24%, making SpaceX – which includes satellite broadband provider Starlink, xAI and rocket launch services – the fifth largest publicly traded company in the world and paving the way for the explosion of other companies that will follow later this year.
The uptick comes after a significant decline in the number of IPOs over the past few years. After a record 1,035 companies floated in 2021, only 181 held IPOs in 2022, marking a nearly 83% year-over-year decline. By 2023, that number drops to just 154 IPOs — the lowest since 2016.
But with 171 public listings so far this year, IPOs have taken center stage.
“There’s been a big pullback in 2022 and ’23, I think [a successful SpaceX IPO] it can definitely open the door,” Jennifer Horton, senior vice president at CapWealth, previously told Money.
With data from forecast markets and Nasdaq’s IPO calendar supporting that view, the next four companies could hold public listings by the end of 2026 as they aim to replicate SpaceX’s successful launch.
OpenAI could be the next mega-cap company to IPO
OpenAI, the company behind the large-scale language modeling (LLM) ChatGPT, announced on June 8 that it has filed a confidential Form S-1 — the legal document required for a public offering — with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.
In March, the company closed a $122 billion funding round that saw its valuation rise to $852 billion. In context, the market cap in that area would make OpenAI the 20th largest publicly traded company at its inception.
Like SpaceX, OpenAI is currently operating at a net loss that analysts expect to reach $14 billion by the end of 2026. By comparison, SpaceX posted a loss of nearly $5 billion by 2025. OpenAI is expected to reach profitability around 2029, but because the company is private and its S-1 is not yet available to the public. which is disclosed.
However, the company is making money from the growing popularity of its flagship product. On June 2, Reuters reported that ChatGPT reached 1 billion active users, or MAUs, in May. The company reached that milestone in less than three years, faster than many other popular apps, including Google Maps, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
According to a press release, the LLM provider has not decided on the timing of its IPO. However, prediction market Kalshi currently pegs the probability of OpenAI debuting in 2026 at 70%.
Anthropic has a high price but is in no rush to go public
OpenAI’s direct competitor, Anthropic is also eyeing a possible 2026 IPO. The company, which develops LLMs and advanced AI assistants – the most famous of which belong to the Claude family of models – filed its S-1 on June 1.
In a press release, Anthropic tempered expectations, saying the S-1 filing “gives us the option to go public after the SEC completes its review… [but] The proposed initial public offering will depend on market conditions and other factors.”
However, the company is proceeding with caution. Anthropic is organized as a public benefit organization – a for-profit company legally required to balance its financial goals with positive social impacts – and its CEO, Dario Amodei, has been talking about carefully assessing the risks of AI models before rushing them to market.
“The burden is on us,” Amodei told ABC on June 11, ahead of SpaceX’s IPO. “The government should also do its part… but the responsibility is on us.”
On May 28, Anthropic closed a funding round that raised $65 billion, bringing its valuation to $965 billion, or 13% more than Sam Altman-led OpenAI. The company has fewer MAUs than its competitor, and Claude currently sees 56 million monthly users. But Reuters reports that Claude saw year-over-year MAU growth of nearly 640%, easily outpacing ChatGPT’s 62% growth.
Kalshi currently puts the possibility of the Anthropic IPO before Nov. 1 in 85%.
Beyond AI: Kraken and Discord could also IPO in 2026
While AI firms and their upcoming IPOs continue to dominate the news cycle, several under-the-radar companies operating in other industries are eyeing a public sale this year. According to TradingView, Kraken and Discord are also positioned to hold IPOs this fall. The platform offered the first few days of those three companies on Oct. 8 and Oct. 15, respectively.
A major mid-sized crypto exchange, Kraken was founded in 2011 – almost a full year before Coinbase, its biggest competitor. The company remains private, and Coinbase has its IPO in April 2021.
With the digital asset market in the midst of a “crypto winter,” the prices of major currencies bitcoin and ether have fallen by 48% and 64%, respectively, from their all-time highs. Kraken temporarily suspended its IPO plans due to the bear market despite secretly filing its S-1 with the SEC in November 2025. Meanwhile, the valuation of the crypto exchange dropped from $20 billion in November to approximately $13.3 billion.
After years of speculation, Discord filed its S-1 on Jan. 6, setting the stage for its IPO. The app and social network was originally designed for gamers but has grown into a number of online communities. It provides virtual spaces, or “servers,” that users can create or join depending on their interests.
One challenge Discord will face before its potential 2026 debut is regaining its balance. The company’s last funding round in 2021 was worth more than $15 billion, but today its estimated value is less than half of that.
Discord has an estimated 260 million MAUs and operates on a freemium model, lowering the barrier to entry but charging for premium subscriptions (Discord Nitro), server upgrades, game sales commissions and product partnerships.
