IPO Market Stalls Four Months After SpaceX's $75 Billion Debut

Four months after SpaceX's $75bn June flotation sparked hopes of a revived IPO market, deal activity has slowed sharply. Several high-profile listings — including Oura, SB Energy, EG Group and Holtec — have been paused or postponed amid weaker investor demand and valuation concerns, particularly in the AI sector.

By AI Newsroom· Reviewed by Pranav, Founder & Editor-in-ChiefPublished less than a minute agoUpdated less than a minute ago0 views

Why It Matters

The slowdown shows that a single large listing did not sustain momentum for the broader IPO pipeline; widespread postponements could delay capital-raising plans for tech and energy firms and reshape timing for expected megacaps like Anthropic and OpenAI.

Key Facts

SpaceX listing size: $75 billion
Recent stalled IPOs: Oura, SB Energy, EG Group, Holtec
Oura planned raise and valuation: aiming to raise as much as $2.2bn in a $15.6bn listing
SB Energy target valuation reported: reportedly targeting $50bn
SpaceX share performance: rose ~19% on debut; trading around $158.9 months later},{

Wall Street's IPO pipeline has lost traction since SpaceX's much-publicised June listing, which had been expected to kickstart a busy quarter of new listings. Instead, a string of companies across sectors have delayed or shelved their flotations, citing weak investor demand and volatile market conditions. Analysts and bankers point to stretched price expectations after a strong second quarter, with Renaissance Capital saying many issuers prepared deals with pricing that looks too high for the current, choppier market. Concerns about elevated valuations in the artificial intelligence sector and growing scepticism following rapid post-listing sell-offs — the so-called "pop and drop" phenomenon — have intensified caution among investors. Several large-name deals have been affected: smart-ring maker Oura recently paused its IPO, data-centre firm SB Energy (backed by SoftBank) faced backlash over a reported $50bn valuation target despite not operating a facility, and nuclear group Holtec withdrew its filing citing unfavourable conditions. AI-focused companies have also adjusted timetables — Anthropic is now expected to list in mid-November while OpenAI has pushed any listing out to 2027. The slowdown is not limited to the US. Tech-heavy listings overseas have shown extreme volatility — Shanghai’s Unitree Robotics jumped roughly 460% above its IPO price on debut then fell about 46.7% from that peak. In the UK, just seven listings have raised £577m in the first half of the year, and only a minority of investors expect activity to pick up in the next 12 months, according to Berenberg’s latest Investor Barometer. Market participants cite a mix of fiscal, monetary and geopolitical uncertainty as factors in their timing decisions, even as a few deals, like Airtel Money’s £5.3bn London debut planned for October, still proceed.