By Rashika Singh
Feb 9 (Reuters) – U.S. equity markets are set for a sharp rebound in IPOs in 2026, Goldman Sachs analysts said, forecasting proceeds quadrupling to a record $160 billion as marquee names such as SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic edge closer to public listings.
The Wall Street brokerage also expects the number of IPOs to double to 120 this year, as improving economic growth, stronger equity prices and easier financial conditions revive dealmaking appetite.
The forecast marks the biggest year on record in absolute proceeds, the analysts said in a note issued on Friday, adding that IPO value would still only represent a small slice of overall U.S. market capitalization, reflecting the equity market’s growth over the past decade.
Twelve firms have raised about $5 billion via IPOs so far in 2026, including AI equipment maker Forgent Power and biopharmaceutical company Eikon Therapeutics. Nvidia-rival AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems, which just raised $1 billion in a late-stage funding round that valued it at $23 billion, is also in the running.
Software and healthcare firms are set to dominate the IPO pipeline by volume while a handful of late-stage tech and artificial intelligence companies are expected to drive proceeds, according to the note.
At the center of investor attention are a handful of ultra-valuable private companies, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX, artificial intelligence firm Anthropic and ChatGPT maker OpenAI, with their potential public debuts likely defining the scale and tone of the next IPO cycle.
Listings by large private companies will shape the 2026 IPO market, analysts said, with proceeds ranging from roughly $80 billion to almost $200 billion, compared with a $160 billion base case.
However, an early-year selloff in software stocks has underscored valuation risks, the analysts warned, especially as the sector accounts for about a quarter of the IPO backlog.
“Continued volatility in share prices and corporate confidence are the key macro risks to our forecast. The substantial weight of software in the IPO backlog is another risk,” Goldman added.
(Reporting by Rashika Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
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