U.S. IPOs per Quarter

## What this measures

How many companies went public on a U.S. exchange in the quarter: the count of first final prospectuses filed with the SEC by companies that had never filed an annual or quarterly report. Blank-check companies (SPACs), funds and asset-backed issuers are left out.

## Why it matters

Companies go public when investors will pay up for growth, so the IPO count is a direct read on risk appetite and on whether the window to raise equity is open. It feeds venture exits, bank underwriting fees and the supply of new listed stocks.

## How to read it

There were 29 IPOs in the third quarter of 2026, against 60 a year earlier. The busiest quarter in the record is the first quarter of 2021, with 116; the quietest is the fourth quarter of 2008, with 1. For whole years from 2001 to 2025 the count ran from 28 (2008) to 435 (2021); 2025 had 205. Higher means the window is open. Compare a quarter with the same quarter a year earlier, and with the pharma and biotech count (ipo.us.pharma_biotech.quarterly).

## What it does not say

It counts filings, not deal size: a $20 million offering and a $2 billion one each count once. It includes small offerings on Nasdaq and NYSE American and foreign companies listing in the United States, so it runs higher than counts that apply a size floor or leave out foreign issuers. IPOs whose final prospectus was filed under another form (424B3 or 424B5) are missed, and a company that reported to the SEC before, under the same registration, is not counted if it lists again. The industry code is the company's current one, not necessarily its code at the time of the IPO.

## How it's built

An IPO is counted on the date a company files its first final prospectus (SEC form 424B4 or 424B1), provided it had filed no annual or quarterly report (10-K, 10-Q, 20-F, 40-F or their variants) and no earlier final prospectus before that date. That leaves out follow-on offerings and uplistings of companies that already report to the SEC. Then Palanor drops blank-check companies and SPACs (SIC code 6770, a blank-check name such as "… Acquisition Corp" at filing, or a later 8-K reporting the end of shell status within four years, confirmed by an 8-A that registered units with warrants or rights), asset-backed issuers (SIC 6189), funds and commodity trusts (SIC 6726 and 6221, or no SIC), filings with more than one registrant (notes with subsidiary guarantors), and companies with no sign of a U.S. exchange listing (no Form 8-A under section 12(b) and no exchange certification by 30 days after the prospectus; before August 2006, when Nasdaq listings registered under section 12(g), a 12(g) 8-A counts). Pharma and biotech means the company's SEC industry code is 2834 (pharmaceutical preparations), 2835 (in vitro diagnostics) or 2836 (biological products). SIC 8731 (commercial research) is left out: its IPOs are mostly contract research organizations and research-tool makers, not drug developers. A daily job reads the last ten days of the EDGAR daily form index; history comes from the quarterly form indexes from 2001.

## Source

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR full and daily form indexes and company filing histories (data.sec.gov). SEC filings are public information and may be copied or redistributed without permission.