September should have been a busy month for US IPOs. Instead, only four operating companies debuted (excluding SPACs), several pulled their offerings, and the two largest AI labs both reportedly pushed their timelines back. The Nasdaq hit record highs over the same period, so this isn't a market-wide sell-off. It's a public market being selective about price, disclosure and timing.

Why "Public" and "Private" Are the Wrong Categories for Thinking About Access to Cash Bending Spoons went public on Nasdaq on July 1, and the market did not wait around to make up its mind. Shares priced at $29, opened strong, and closed the first day up nearly 40%, valuing the Milan-based acquirer of AOL, Vimeo, Eventbrite, and a dozen other formerly-left-for-dead internet brands at roughly $25 billion.

A lockup is a contractual restriction, negotiated between the company and its underwriters, that prevents insiders, employees, and pre-IPO investors from selling shares for a set period after listing. Standard terms run 90 to 180 days, though the exact length and who it applies to varies by deal.

On May 11, 2026 SpaceX filed its initial Form S-1, and on June 3 the company filed an amended S-1/A that, unusually, set an exact offering price rather than a range: 555,555,555 Class A shares at $135.00, raising approximately $75 billion at a $1.77 trillion fully diluted valuation. Shares are expected to begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX later this month, per press reports. The size is unprecedented — the largest IPO in U.S. history, twice the prior record.

Two pieces of news this week that, taken together, say something bigger about where private markets are heading.

Value creation is staying private. Liquidity is learning to follow it as venture secondaries become a crucial on-ramp. For most of modern venture history, the script was straightforward: invest early, support the company, and wait for an IPO or acquisition to unlock returns. That script is now being rewritten as two powerful signals are converging.

The IPO market is technically open…but it’s already becoming choosy. A week ago, Blackstone’s president declared that “2026 should be the year of the IPO.” Just days later, one of Blackstone’s own portfolio companies put that assumption to question. On the surface, it was a busy week for new listings, with seven IPOs and six SPACs pricing. But it was also notable for what didn’t happen.

After two years of a constrained exit environment, private-market liquidity is increasingly being delivered through secondaries and structured transactions, not traditional IPOs.