PitchBook News - 20 top IPO candidates

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The Research Pitch

March 9, 2024

Sneak peek: We'll give a wide release to three new pieces of research on Monday, but weekend readers can access them early: MENA Private Capital Breakdown, Insurtech Report, Enterprise SaaS Future Report: HR Tech.

Women in VC: Female founders increased their share of US venture capital raised in 2023 to 28%. Our new All In reports explore the evolving landscape for women in venture across the US and Europe.

Identifying 20 top VC-backed IPO candidates for 2024

As the stock market reaches new peaks, discussion of a possible revival of the IPO market has taken center stage.

However, recent growth in the stock market has largely been propelled by technology stalwarts with strong operating fundamentals as opposed to speculative venture-backed startups with unproven track records.

PitchBook's proprietary index and valuation data shows how tech startup performance has dramatically underperformed the broader stock market, raising questions as to how much investor enthusiasm exists for speculative IPOs.

The sparse IPO activity that has occurred over the past two years has mainly consisted of larger companies that have been supported by large corporate investor participation—very different from VC-backed startups.

Another factor that is different in this cycle is the presence of a deeper private market landscape that provides alternate routes to capital, such as secondary offerings, that may reduce the need for public liquidity.

Still, with public market multiples holding steady at healthy levels and a long-term IPO drought making investors antsy, it's likely some VC-backed companies will test the public waters in 2024.

We polled our Emerging Tech Research team to get their top VC-backed IPO candidates over the next year assuming markets maintain current levels.

While countless external and internal factors ultimately determine whether a company seeks to go public, our analysts sought to identify venture-backed startups with compelling IPO characteristics such as strong revenue growth and margin potential, durable business models, capable management teams with successful track records, and/or product and technology offerings with realistic chances of disruption and growth.

To read more on the 20 companies selected, download our free research: IPO Pipeline: Identifying Potential VC-Backed IPO Candidates in 2024

Best,

Paul Condra
Head of Industry & Tech Research

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Market Updates

Last year was far from a record moment for private capital fundraising.

Committed capital was down 20.5% YoY and fund counts decreased by 48.4%, driven by LP concerns about a lack of exits and VC valuation fluctuations.

Our Global Private Market Fundraising Report explains why the difficult environment may begin to dissipate:

read the free report

Thematic Research

VC Investment in Climate Tech

For climate tech, 2023 was a year of highs and lows.

VC investment in Q4 fell 14.5% year-over-year, but there are plenty of tailwinds paving the way for a stronger 2024, including favorable regulation and policy.

Low-carbon mobility, industry, and grid infrastructure, in particular, are attracting attention from investors.

Our new research dives into the wide-ranging sector:

read the free research

Industry & Tech Research

Investor enthusiasm for the biopharma industry is holding strong, particularly for companies integrating AI into drug discovery and those developing weight loss drugs.

Meanwhile, a steady flow of exits returned $18.3 billion to VCs in 2023.

Our new Biopharma Report unpacks VC trends, spotlights key players, and highlights opportunities in molecular glue degraders, epigenetic editing, and macrocyclic peptides:

read a free preview

Retail fintech deal value ticked up in Q4 to $2.6 billion, a 5% increase from the previous quarter.

While deal count declined to 148 deals—a 10.8% decrease from Q3—a new crop of buy now, pay later startups are poised to energize the space.

Our new Retail Fintech Report dives into the new wave of BNPL startups, with an analysis of the major players and trends investors need to know:

read a free preview

Webinars & Events

Be sure to add these events to your calendar:

March 18-20: Join us at ALTSLA in Los Angeles, where our lead quantitative and funds analyst Zane Carmean will participate in a panel discussion on investing in emerging managers in the new era of specialized alternatives. Register here.

March 20-27: We're hosting a pair of webinars to discuss the findings from our new All In reports, as women in VC have made progress but continue to face many challenges. On March 20, we'll focus on the US ecosystem. On March 27, we'll turn our attention to Europe.

April 29-May 1: Come visit us at DealMAX in Las Vegas, where our lead PE analyst Tim Clarke will lead a session discussing where and when private equity firms will find exit opportunities going forward. Register here.

In the News

PitchBook analyst Annemarie Donegan on Bloomberg.

Our insights and data featured in the press:

Female founders secured a record share of total US VC deal value last year. [Bloomberg Technology]

One of the biggest challenges for agriculture companies attracting VC or PE investment: long growth cycles. [Insider]

How we determined that SaaS companies are expected to outperform venture-backed companies in other sectors. [P&I]

Why LPs can use the current environment to "push for better terms when negotiating their commitments." [Alternative Credit Investor]

5 charts on how female founders and VCs fared in Europe last year. [Sifted]

If you're a journalist interested in interviewing our analysts or requesting data, contact our PR team.

ICYMI

More of our recent research (* - report preview):

Market updates

Thematic research

Industry & tech research

Credit research

Coming next week (subject to change)

US PE Middle Market Report
US PE Lending League Tables
US Public BDC Lender Earnings
Southeast Asia Private Capital Breakdown
UK Market Snapshot
Emerging Tech Indicator
Enterprise SaaS Report*
Emerging Space Brief: Geothermal Energy
Surfing Turbulent Cash Flow Waves
Value-Based Care Enablers Update

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PitchBook News - 20 top IPO candidates

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