Initial public offering activity picked up modestly in the second quarter of 2024, with the US marking the busiest quarter since early 2022.

There were 318 IPOs launched worldwide in the second quarter of 2024, up from the 298 IPOs in the first quarter, but still the lowest amount for a second quarter since 2020 when just 255 IPOs were launched, according to the latest S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Second-quarter IPOs offered $29.55 billion, up from $23.33 billion in the first quarter of 2024.

Still, the IPO market has yet to recover to its recent heights. Through the first half of 2024 there were 616 IPOs launched, well below the 1,634 launched in the first two quarters of 2021, the year that IPO activity reached a frenzied peak, and just above the 551 launched in the first half of 2020, when much of the global economy was hindered by the pandemic.

The $52.88 billion offered in the first half of 2024 is $8.49 billion less than what was offered through the first two quarters of 2023.

US activity

While IPO activity remains largely stalled globally, there were 35 IPOs launched in the US in the second quarter of 2024, the highest number since the first quarter of 2022 when 70 were launched. Through the first half of 2024, there were 60 IPOs launched in the US, compared to the 46 launched in the first half of 2023.

The cumulative worth of the securities sold through IPOs in the US was $8.68 billion in the second quarter, up from $5.70 billion in the first quarter of this year and the largest quarterly amount since the first quarter of 2022 when $12.12 billion was sold.

UL Solutions Inc. was the largest US IPO launched in the first half of 2024, with nearly $1.09 billion offered in April, followed by Waystar Holding Corp. with $967.5 million offered in June and Rubrik Inc. with $864.8 million offered in April.

The 10 largest US IPOs accounted for $7.69 billion offered in the first half of 2024, or just more than half the $14.38 billion offered in the US in the first six months of 2024.

European activity

European IPO activity saw a moderate increase in the second quarter with 36 IPOs offered throughout the quarter, up from the 30 offered in the first quarter.

The cumulative worth of the securities sold through IPOs in Europe was $16.65 billion in the first half of 2024, up from the $3.18 billion sold in the first two quarters of 2023, but well below the peak in the first half of 2021 when $63.37 billion was sold.