US IPO Weekly Winners & Losers

IPOs are in a once-in-a-decade bear market heading into Q3.

Our analyst was quoted calling this IPO market "comparable to the aftermath of the Great Recession and the dot-com bubble bursting." First-half returns back that up:

This week we updated our Q2 US IPO Review. The median deal size was just $22 million. Only 6 IPOs cleared $100 million in a quarter where VC rounds regularly topped that amount.

One such round caught my eye this week. VC-backed Evolved by Nature raised $120 million to scale up production of novel biodegradable silk chemicals used in apparel, personal care, and medicine. Heading into the July Fourth holiday, it’s good to know the smartest minds are still innovating in the USA.

Copper miner Ivanhoe Electric (NYSE: IE) was the week’s only IPO. A holdover from last week, Ivanhoe priced at the low end and dropped -23.4% by Friday. We don't place too much weight on a development-stage miner, but there won't be a pickup in activity until investors feel confident about new listings. No major deals are on the calendar yet for July.

Electric vehicle maker Polestar's (Nasdaq: PSNY) new filing reveals that it’s the year’s largest SPAC listing by capital raised. It began trading last week valued at more than $20 billion.

This week the IPO market gave back its recent gains, down -7.2% versus the S&P 500 down -2.2%. German mRNA biotech BioNTech was the winner, up +17.5% after securing a major order of COVID-19 vaccines from the US government. Buy-now-pay-later leader Affirm slid -26.2% as recession fears threaten top-line growth and credit quality.