2025 – A Pivotal, Resurgent Year for U.S. Equities

The IPO Market Reignites

As noted earlier, IPO activity accelerated in 2025, with deal volume rising 55% year over year. In total, 349 IPOs—including SPACs—priced during the year, raising $75.5 billion in aggregate proceeds. Excluding the anomaly years of 2020 and 2021, which recorded 458 and 1,009 IPOs, respectively, 2025 marked the most active year for IPO issuance dating back to at least 2001. The previous high occurred in 2007, when 297 companies went public. The increase in issuance was driven in large part by the return of the SPAC IPO. SPAC volumes surged 167% from the prior year and accounted for 41% of total IPOs, the highest share since 2022, when SPACs represented 49% of IPO issuance.

Excluding SPACs, the IPO market remained robust, building on momentum from 2024. Non-SPAC IPO volume increased 20% year over year to 205 deals, raising a combined $46.5 billion in proceeds. This represented the strongest year for IPOs since 2014, which saw 284 offerings, again excluding the record-setting years of 2020 and 2021. Proceeds rose 42% from $32.7 billion in 2024, coming just shy of the annual average of $47.0 billion since 2001. Average deal size climbed 19% to $227.0 million, supported by 11 IPOs that exceeded $1 billion in proceeds.

The year’s standout issuer emerged boldly in mid-December from the healthcare sector, as Medline Inc. raised $7.2 billion—the largest IPO since Rivian Automotive, Inc.’s $13.7 billion offering in November 2021. Medline ranked as the ninth-largest IPO and the largest healthcare IPO dating back to at least 2001. Venture Global, Inc. followed as the second-largest IPO of the year, raising $1.8 billion in January from the energy sector. The technology sector dominated the list of billion-dollar offerings, accounting for eight of the 11 deals above that threshold. This group was led by Klarna Group PLC ($1.6 billion), CoreWeave, Inc. ($1.6 billion), and Figma, Inc. ($1.4 billion).

After leading issuance in 2024, the industrials sector once again finished as the most active, bringing 47 issuers to market and raising $5.9 billion in proceeds, led by BETA Technologies, Inc.’s $1.2 billion offering. Technology followed closely, with 43 IPOs raising $15.0 billion—the highest proceeds of any sector. Healthcare rounded out the top three, as 35 issuers raised $11.9 billion.

Looking at pricing performance, IPOs posted an average first-day return of 15.7%, more than double the 7.8% average seen in 2024. Among the 205 non-SPAC IPOs, 13% priced above their initial filing ranges, up slightly from 12% the prior year. Deals that priced above the range significantly outperformed, generating average first-day gains of 44%, compared with returns of 11.4% and 10.1% for deals priced within and below the range, respectively. Waton Financial, Ltd. and Figma, Inc. delivered the strongest first-day performances, surging 396.3% and 250.0%. Medline, the year’s largest IPO, posted a first-day return of 41.4%.

Follow-On Issuance Remains Steady

Follow-on offerings remained the most prevalent form of equity issuance in 2025, with 661 transactions pricing and generating $153.6 billion in aggregate proceeds. Issuance volume increased modestly by 5% from the 631 deals completed in 2024, a slower pace than the 21% year-over-year growth recorded from 2023 to 2024. Despite the uptick in deal count, total proceeds declined 2% from $157.1 billion. Average follow-on deal size fell 7% year over year to $232.3 million from $249.0 million, even as the number of billion-dollar offerings increased. In total, 36 follow-ons raised more than $1.0 billion in proceeds, a 50% increase from 2024. Follow-on offerings accounted for 60% of overall equity issuance volume in 2025, down from 69% the prior year and slightly below the annual average of 64% since 2001.

The largest follow-on of the year came from Charles Schwab Corp., which raised $13.1 billion in proceeds from the financials sector. This ranked as the eighth-largest follow-on offering dating back to at least 2001. Notably, only 14 follow-on offerings since 2001 have exceeded $10.0 billion in proceeds, 11 of which originated from the financials sector. Brown & Brown, Inc., also from the financials sector, recorded the second-largest follow-on of the year, raising $4.4 billion. Rounding out the five largest follow-on offerings of 2025 were Ferrari, which raised $3.1 billion, and Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc., which completed two offerings raising $2.5 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively—all from the consumer goods sector.

As in 2024, healthcare, technology, and industrials dominated follow-on issuance, collectively accounting for 67% of all deals. The healthcare sector led with 280 offerings, surpassing 200 follow-ons for the third consecutive year and extending its position as the most active sector annually since 2011. Technology followed with 94 deals and has recorded the second-highest follow-on activity each year since 2018. Industrials rounded out the top three with 66 offerings. 

S&P Global Market Intelligence: Advancing Technology and Execution

The year 2025 proved to be a pivotal one for equity issuance, highlighted by the reacceleration of the IPO market. Looking ahead, the environment appears increasingly supportive for the new issuance market, as economic conditions continue to stabilize, inflation trends fall, and the anticipation of lower interest rates. At the same time, the pipeline of private companies preparing for public listings continues to build, led by AI-focused giants such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks. Several notable technology companies, including SpaceX and Discord, may also emerge as potential public-market entrants.

With that in mind, S&P Global Market Intelligence remains focused on advancing technological innovation, speed of execution, and operational efficiency—reinforcing our commitment to delivering best-in-class solutions for participants across the equity capital markets. Building on the strong foundation established in 2025, we continued to invest in strategic innovation, expand platform capabilities, and deliver client-driven enhancements designed to streamline workflows and improve decision-making.

Throughout the past year, we introduced significant upgrades across our core product suite—including Master Book, Sales Portal, Wall Crossing, and AI & Analytics—unlocking new efficiencies and elevating the client experience. Our teams successfully completed the migration of all users to modern technology, launched the industry’s first multi-bank Sales Portal, and applied artificial intelligence to generate actionable insights at scale. The following highlights showcase key achievements that position S&P Global Market Intelligence for continued growth and leadership in 2026.

Master Book
In 2025, the Equities program completed a major transformation, closing all functional gaps between the legacy Master Book and Accounting Pages, fully migrating clients to the modernized platform. New allocation workflow features, including Fill Down for Allocations and % Fill columns, enhanced flexibility and reduced errors during live bookbuilds. Reporting and compliance were strengthened through Account Coverage Reports, improved FINRA tracking, and the introduction of the Facilitator Dealer role. User experience improvements—such as Multiple Lock Indications and streamlined upload workflows—supported higher-volume transactions while increasing transparency.

Sales Portal
The Sales Portal reached a key milestone with the launch of the Proxy Sales and Syndicate Dashboard, enabling proxy banks to manage equity issuance and distribution across partners from a single, unified dashboard. This innovation reduced operational risk and centralized deal activity for greater efficiency. Enhanced order management—including an updated Add Order panel and right-click edit functionality—made processes faster and more intuitive. Upgrades to investor history and search capabilities, combined with a redesigned interface, delivered a cleaner, more responsive user experience.

Wall Crossing
Enhancements to Wall Crossing in 2025 focused on compliance, communication, and transparency. Integration with client DNS servers enabled seamless and compliant email workflows, while improved recipient management ensured consistency and auditability. The introduction of reusable communication templates and enhanced logging standardized outreach and supported regulatory requirements, ultimately improving the overall user experience.

AI & Analytics
Artificial intelligence became a fully embedded capability across the Equities suite in 2025. The launch of the EBB AI Assistant provided instant, contextual guidance within syndicate pages, boosting efficiency and reducing reliance on manual support. New analytical dashboards offered actionable insights into public and proprietary deal data, empowering teams to make more informed execution decisions.

Looking Ahead: 2026 Roadmap
In 2026, S&P Global Market Intelligence will focus on interoperability, expanded market coverage, and modernizing client experiences. Key initiatives include rebuilding and elevating our analytics suite with enhanced collection, reporting outputs and depth into cross-asset financings, expanding our structured products integration for our retail program, and enhancing Wall Crossing workflows with new visibility and tracking features. The roadmap also addresses EMEA and APAC market requirements while continuing to modernize core platforms—including Equity Bookbuild and the Sales Portal—delivering a seamless, future-ready user experience.