US stock markets are expected to see a sharp acceleration in initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2026, analysts at Goldman Sachs said, predicting that proceeds will quadruple to a record $160 billion as high-profile names such as SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic move closer to public listings.
The Wall Street brokerage also expects the number of IPOs to double to 120 this year as improving economic growth, higher stock prices and more favorable financial conditions stoke appetite for deals.
The forecast marks the biggest year on record for absolute revenues, analysts said in a note released on Friday (6), adding that the value of IPOs would still represent only a small slice of the total US market capitalization, reflecting the growth of the stock market over the last decade.
Twelve companies have raised about $5 billion through 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 contention.
Software and healthcare companies are expected to dominate the IPO market in terms of volume, while a portion of late-stage technology and artificial intelligence companies are expected to boost yields, according to the note.
At the center of investors’ attention are some highly valued private companies, including Elon Musk’s, whose potential public debuts will likely set the scale and tone of the next IPO cycle.
Listings by large private companies will shape the 2026 IPO market, analysts noted, with revenues ranging from roughly $80 billion to nearly $200 billion, compared with a base case of $160 billion.
However, declines in software stocks at the start of the year highlighted valuation risks, analysts warned, especially as the sector accounts for about a quarter of the IPO portfolio.
“Continued stock price volatility and business confidence are the key macroeconomic risks to our forecast. The substantial weight of the software sector in the IPO portfolio is another risk,” Goldman added.
