• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change fake, is now threatening Brazil with tariffs over the deforestation of the Amazon

2

Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military

3

'We are rapidly running out of time': Watchdog sounds Social Security alarm after 22% cut confirmed for 2032

1

Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change fake, is now threatening Brazil with tariffs over the deforestation of the Amazon

2

Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military

3

'We are rapidly running out of time': Watchdog sounds Social Security alarm after 22% cut confirmed for 2032
Finance

Get Ready for ‘the Best IPO Market Since the Dotcom Boom’

By
Erin Griffith
Erin Griffith
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Erin Griffith
Erin Griffith
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 27, 2017, 9:00 AM ET

After years of avoiding the public markets, Silicon Valley suddenly has IPO fever. Snap’s (SNAP) successful debut, paired with solid early performances from MuleSoft (MULE) and Okta (OKTA), has investors—both the Wall Street kind and the Sand Hill Road kind—making squee sounds of excitement.

They’re so exuberant, one VC even declared on CNBC that this year “could be one of the best for the IPO market since the dotcom boom.” It may be the first time anyone has referenced the 1999–2000 tech bubble as aspirational.

But pinch-yourself valuations aren’t the only thing today’s IPO candidates have in common with their dotbomb forebears: They’re also losing money. Snap, which lost $515 million last year but is currently valued at $24.5 billion, is a particularly egregious offender. But enterprise technology companies Cloudera, Okta, and MuleSoft also disclosed 2016 losses of $187 million, $83.5 million, and $50 million, respectively.

And as in 1999, more often than not, no profit is no problem. On its first day of trading, Okta stock surged 38%. Public-market investors are desperate for a growth story (any growth!), and these highly valued, venture-backed startups are giving them exactly that.

That any CEO at a hot startup is willing to consider going public is a stark turnaround from the past five years. On the stages of posh tech conferences, when asked “Will you IPO?” the CEOs of billion-dollar startups would answer, essentially, “Why?”

For the money? They didn’t need that. Investors like sovereign wealth funds, family offices, mutual funds, and hedge funds—relative newbies who didn’t dabble in startups before the current boom—were keeping startups flush and well stocked with free organic snacks.

For the attention? Startups’ billion-dollar valuations and resulting membership in the “unicorn club” got them plenty of that (see the aforementioned posh conference stages, as well as magazine covers and TV hits).

Meanwhile, there were plenty of reasons not to IPO: To startup founders, going public meant jumping through hoops to get a bunch of bean-counting Wall Streeters to see their world-changing vision, diluting their ownership, and paying massive banker fees for the privilege. And if it was successful, their reward would be earnings reports, every quarter, for the rest of time, while a bunch of high-frequency trading bots threaten to tank the stock anytime the company ­misses its overly lofty revenue projections or an employee tweets something dumb.

Some startup execs have discussed perma-private scenarios like reverse IPOs or dividends for investors. What if they never had to go public, just like Peter Pan never had to grow up?

And yet today the IPO pipeline for venture-backed tech companies looks healthier than it has in years. Part of the reason is that there aren’t as many buyers willing to tolerate big losses from unicorns as there are unicorns losing money. Some founders have tried to sell their startups and found no buyers willing to pay their inflated valuations. And some venture investors are losing patience waiting for a return on their investments. Even the “new money” investors are becoming more selective—that’s forcing all but the top-tier companies to turn to the public market for cash.

For regular investors, this means they can now get a piece of these rarefied high-growth startups and all the risk and reward that entails. For startups, it means more disclosure, perhaps leading to greater accountability for the Valley’s disrupters. And it signals a sea change in the tech world. So far this year, six startups have left the billion-dollar unicorn list, while a paltry 10 have joined it, according to CB Insights. The Age of Unicorns appears to be coming to a close.


The IPO Status Report

Recent

Snap: With a $24.5 billion market cap after its March IPO, Snap could pave the way for more tech unicorns to make public debuts.

Okta: Shares of the cloud-software provider were up 38% during its first day of trading, in April.

MuleSoft: The software firm went public in March and is now worth nearly $3 billion.

Looming

Spotify: The music streaming giant reportedly aims to go public before the end of the year, but may use a direct listing to do so rather than an IPO.

Blue Apron: The meal-kit titan has hired Goldman Sachs to lead it to the public market by year-end.

Rumored

Dropbox: It’s not official, but the company is reportedly meeting with banks in preparation for its IPO filing.

Palantir: CEO Alex Karp has said that he’s “philosophically” opposed to an IPO but that it now may be the “simplest” thing to do.

Qualtrics: The enterprise survey company just completed a “pre-IPO” round of funding.

Maybe Next Year

Uber: Recent bad press could further delay an IPO at the company, whose CEO has said he wants to stay private for as long as “humanly possible.” (Click here for more on Uber.)

Airbnb: The company turned its first profit in the second half of 2016. But Airbnb’s leadership says it will ­probably wait at least another year to go public.


A version of this article appears in the May 1, 2017 issue of Fortune with the headline “Goodbye, Unicorns. Hello, IPOs!”

About the Author
By Erin Griffith
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

Sam Bankman-Fried formally files for pardon—but White House reiterates that FTX cofounder’s odds are slim
CryptoSam Bankman-Fried
Sam Bankman-Fried formally files for pardon—but White House reiterates that FTX cofounder’s odds are slim
By Camila Grigera NaonJune 9, 2026
3 hours ago
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Wednesday, June 3, 2026
InvestingWall Street
Wall Street dumped nearly $1 trillion in tech stocks by midday—then clawed it back and bought peanut butter and paint
By Eva RoytburgJune 9, 2026
3 hours ago
America’s grid is reeling. General Motors offers itself as a distributed utility in disguise
EnergyAutos
America’s grid is reeling. General Motors offers itself as a distributed utility in disguise
By Nick LichtenbergJune 9, 2026
4 hours ago
Tesla cofounder: ‘We should be really worried’ about the U.S. grid as China speeds ahead in the power race
EnergyBrainstorm Tech
Tesla cofounder: ‘We should be really worried’ about the U.S. grid as China speeds ahead in the power race
By Jordan BlumJune 9, 2026
4 hours ago
President Donald Trump signing an executive order introducing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas.
LawImmigration
Trump’s $100,000 visa fee is dead in one court and alive in another, setting up Supreme Court brawl
By Michael Casey and The Associated PressJune 9, 2026
5 hours ago
U.S. President Donald Trump on Liberation Day.
EconomyChina
China’s exports to the US are surging at a pre-Liberation Day pace, defying Trump’s tariff goals
By Chan Ho-Him and The Associated PressJune 9, 2026
6 hours ago

Most Popular

Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change fake, is now threatening Brazil with tariffs over the deforestation of the Amazon
Environment
Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change fake, is now threatening Brazil with tariffs over the deforestation of the Amazon
By Sasha RogelbergJune 8, 2026
1 day ago
Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
Asia
Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
By Kate O'Keeffe and BloombergJune 8, 2026
1 day ago
'We are rapidly running out of time': Watchdog sounds Social Security alarm after 22% cut confirmed for 2032
Economy
'We are rapidly running out of time': Watchdog sounds Social Security alarm after 22% cut confirmed for 2032
By Nick LichtenbergJune 9, 2026
8 hours ago
Current price of oil as of June 8, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 8, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 8, 2026
1 day ago
Gen Zers are arriving at college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates
Success
Gen Zers are arriving at college unable to even read a sentence—professors warn it could lead to a generation of anxious and lonely graduates
By Preston ForeJune 7, 2026
2 days ago
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
Success
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
By Preston ForeJune 8, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.