SpaceX Grabbed 83% of 2026's $90 Billion Tech IPO Haul

SpaceX alone accounted for 83% of the nearly $90 billion that U.S. venture-backed technology companies have raised in domestic public offerings this year, according to Crunchbase data. That $90 billion tally already ranks as the second-highest annual figure on record — with a few months still left in 2026.

The concentration is extreme. AI infrastructure company Cerebras Systems took another 6% of the total. A potential offering from Anthropic, meanwhile, could be even bigger than anything the market has seen so far.

The remaining field is thin. Just 21 other venture-backed technology companies went public this year in sizable Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange offerings — those raising $40 million or more — per Crunchbase data. Collectively, their offerings, including traditional IPOs and SPAC deals, pulled in less than $10 billion.

What the cohort includes — and what it excludes

Enterprise software, long a staple of venture-backed IPOs, was essentially a no-show. Energy, defense and space tech were well represented. Smaller offerings also came from medical devices and consumer-facing startups.

Energy powered the most IPOs. Roughly a quarter of this year's tech startup offerings hail from the energy sector. The largest came from geothermal provider Fervo Energy. Several nuclear-focused startups also debuted, including X-energy and Hadron Energy, both developers of small modular nuclear reactors, and Standard Nuclear, which works on advanced nuclear fuel.

Beyond energy, quantum computing company Quantinuum delivered one of the year's larger debuts, as did equipment rental platform EquipmentShare. Defense tech and aerospace posted solid showings with offerings from satellite intelligence provider HawkEye 360 and spacecraft developer York Space Systems. On the consumer front, e-bike and scooter platform Lime finally made its market entrance — though at a valuation below its one-time peak.

SaaS stays home

The scarcity of enterprise software offerings is not entirely surprising given AI's impact on the sector. Venture capitalists are pouring capital into a newer generation of AI-first platforms in legal tech, accounting and other enterprise software categories. Existing SaaS unicorns are racing to add AI to their own products.

One result: an awful lot of SaaS unicorns and former unicorns have concluded that this year is not the time to pursue an IPO.

Winner takes almost all

Investment returns are looking more concentrated than ever. Winning big or not at all is hardly new to the startup world — tech venture returns have always rested on a few enormous wins, with the rest of a portfolio producing losses or smaller profitable exits. But lately, the winner-take-almost-all-the-IPO-proceeds tilt is more pronounced than at any point in recent memory.

The forward pipeline offers little comfort for anyone expecting that pattern to break. Giant potential market debuts from Anthropic and OpenAI still dominate IPO chatter, per Crunchbase. Enterprise SaaS offerings do not — and until investors show renewed appetite for software growth stories, the megacap AI names look set to keep absorbing the bulk of public-market proceeds.