Tech IPOs Regain Momentum as Market Adjusts to Tariff Shock

This week, stock brokerage platform eToro made a strong public market debut, with shares jumping nearly 29% after pricing above the expected range. On the same day, newly public artificial intelligence infrastructure company CoreWeave posted 420% revenue growth in its first earnings report, sending its stock up roughly 60% for the week and doubling since its March IPO.

These milestones mark a notable shift in momentum. Optimism had been growing earlier this year until the announcement of new U.S. tariffs in April sent markets into a tailspin. The resulting volatility caused several companies — including Klarna and StubHub — to delay their IPO plans.

The pullback was reflected in venture exit data. While the first quarter marked the highest quarterly exit value since late 2021, nearly 40% of that came from CoreWeave alone, according to data from the National Venture Capital Association and PitchBook. The organizations noted that tariff uncertainty had dampened investor appetite for risk, complicating the path to market for many VC-backed startups.

Now, with a temporary 90-day pause on the most aggressive trade measures and a rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports, signs of recovery are reappearing. Fintech firm Chime filed its IPO prospectus this week after previously delaying, and digital health company Omada Health filed to go public just last week.

Ernst & Young’s Americas IPO leader Rachel Gerring said market sentiment is improving. “It’s just a matter of when. It’s not a matter of if,” she said. Gerring is advising companies to be fully prepared so they can strike when the window reopens.

Next week could be pivotal. Hinge Health, a virtual physical therapy platform, is expected to price its IPO in a range that would value it around $2.4 billion. Despite a broader slowdown in digital health following its pandemic-era surge, Hinge’s offering could test investor demand for health tech.

Meanwhile, chipmaker Cerebras, which filed to go public in September, has cleared a regulatory review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and is now aiming to complete its IPO this year. And Galaxy Digital, a digital assets firm that previously went public in Canada, began trading on the Nasdaq Friday in a strategic bid to access a wider investor base.

Still, industry leaders caution that a full recovery in the IPO market depends on more large, growth-oriented companies entering the pipeline.

“The IPO market might be one of the latter ones to return as the market starts to recover, just given the risk around IPOs,” said Gerring. “We’re trending in the right direction.”

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