The Pandemic year of 2020 saw most industries witnessing a lean year, but there were some exceptions. Online e-commerce and tech companies that facilitated digital existence did well. US companies alone raised a record of $435 billion in stock sales in 2020, with more than a quarter of that figure coming from IPOs. And 2021 has been even better with 953 IPOs to date. U.S. IPOs have raised nearly $276 billion (including those of special purpose acquisition companies) so far in 2021, according to data from Dealogic.
The big tech cloud-based software companies such as Zoom, Snowflake, Asana, Airbnb, Amazon, Salesforce and Palantir have all witnessed a rise in stock prices as work from home and e-commerce continue to grow. Let’s look at the 6 biggest tech IPOs in 2021 that are in demand.
1. Freshworks
Enterprise software maker Freshworks saw a strong IPO on Sept. 22, with shares opening at $43.50, 21% above expectations, valuing the company at $12 billion. The company had put its initial stock price at $36, above its expected range of $32 to $34.
Founded in India and now based in San Mateo, CA, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firm competes with Salesforce, Zoho, and other smaller players in the CRM, HR, marketing, and IT service management space.
2. Couchbase
NoSQL database specialist Couchbase saw its stock price jump by as much as 39% on its July 22 market debut, valuing the company at more than $1 billion. It now boasts a market cap value of $23 billion.
3. Wise
Wise, formerly Transwise founded by two Estonians, floated on the London Stock Exchange on July 7 as a direct listing —meaning no new shares were sold — at a starting price of £8 ($11) per share before rising 10% to £8.88 during its first day of trading. That put the company’s value at £8 billion
($11 billion), making it the biggest ever tech float on the LSE.
The fintech firm is best known for its online international money transfer and cross border payments services.
4. Sprinklr
Customer experience software maker Sprinklr floated a tech IPO in June with shares priced at $16, below its target range of $18 to $20, valuing the company at $4 billion.
Sprinklr is known for its social media management, advertising, and content marketing tools.
5. SentinelOne
SentinelOne is an Israeli cybersecurity firm, now based in California. It debuted on the New York Stock Exchange at US$ 42.50 per share taking it to the list of top tech IPOs in 2021. The firm specializes in endpoint security, implementing machine learning techniques to fight against cyberattacks under its singularity platform product.
SentinelOne raised US$ 267 million on a US$ 3.1 billion valuation last November.
6. Darktrace
Another cybersecurity firm Darktrace debuted on the London Stock Exchange in April, Its shares rose by as much as 43% to £3.58 on the first day of trading. Its guidance price was set at £2.50 at a valuation of £2.4 billion.
The company was started in 2013 by a group of mathematicians and ex-Intelligence agents. The Cambridge-based firm uses AI and machine learning to help detect cyber security threats. The cybersecurity company had a good run at the bourses similar to Trustpilot and PensionBee.
