Viking’s success highlights a remarkable month for IPO activity. According to Renaissance Capital, April witnessed a total of 18 IPOs raising a collective $5.3 billion, making it the busiest month for IPOs since November 2021. Viking’s offering was among the nine deals that raised $100 million or more during this period.
Despite the broader market’s struggles in April, with the S&P 500 declining by 4%, recent IPOs have generally performed well. The Renaissance Capital IPO ETF, which tracks a group of approximately 60 companies that have gone public within the past two years, experienced a 10% decline in April. However, a significant portion of this decline was attributed to older IPOs, such as Kenvue, Coinbase, and Roblox.
Recent IPOs have delivered impressive returns since their initial offerings:
– Astera Labs: +135.4%
– Loar Holdings: +86.9%
– Reddit: +30.7%
– UL Solutions: +25.4%
– Centuri: +17.9%
– Ibotta: +16.2%
– Rubrik: +0.1%
Renaissance Capital remains optimistic about the 2024 IPO market, stating, “Despite some recent market headwinds, returns from recent IPOs and news from our shadow backlog give us optimism that the 2024 IPO market will continue to normalize heading into the summer.”
The strong demand for Viking’s IPO, a consumer-oriented company, may provide encouragement to other consumer brands considering going public. Some notable companies in this category include Chobani (yogurt and coffee), Liquid Death (water), Epic Games (video games), Harry’s (razor blades), Del Monte (canned fruit), and Panera Bread (restaurant chain).
