Palo Alto law firm Wilson Sonsini says a SpaceX-led 2026 first half of US technology and life science initial public offerings “showed significant improvement compared with recent years” while remaining well off the IPO highs of 2020 and 2021.
The 37 IPOs or direct listings in the first six months of 2026 compared with 18 in the same period last year.
“Fifteen technology companies priced IPOs with deal values above US$75 million during the first half of 2026. Aerospace and defence led all technology sub-sectors in the period with five IPOs,” Wilson Sonsini said in its latest mid-year technology and life science IPO report.
“Six IPOs each resulted in gross proceeds of over $1 billion, of which the SpaceX IPO is a particular standout with $75 billion in proceeds.
“These deals reflect the growing market appetite for opportunities relating to artificial intelligence, semiconductors and other high-tech manufacturing, energy and aerospace and defence.”
Of the 16 H1 life sciences IPOs six were completed by biotech companies and six were in the pharmaceutical sector. There were 19 life sciences transactions including direct listings.
Wilson Sonsini said a decline in the traditional software sector continued in the first half of 2026, with no IPOs or direct listings by companies reporting software as their primary industry.
“We expect this trend to continue for the remainder of the year, impacting the number of traditional software IPOs and valuations of companies without strong AI-centric capabilities,” the firm said.
“We expect AI-enabled tools, cloud and AI infrastructure, fintech and security to remain high areas of interest for the remainder of the year.”
