Photo via Bigstock
Photo via Bigstock

There’s a lot of talk of unicorns these days — private companies that are raising piles of venture capital at billion dollar valuations all while shunning the public markets.

But even with these huge private financing deals, the market for initial public offerings did well during the second quarter.

According to an analysis by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association, 27 venture-backed companies completed IPOs during the second quarter, a 59 percent increase in the number of offerings compared to the first quarter of the year. The 27 offerings also was on par with the number of IPOs in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The 27 companies raised $3.4 billion, which also was up significant over the first quarter. However, the tally was down from the same period last year when 29 companies raised $5 billion.

Meanwhile, mergers and acquisitions took a tumble, with just 70 venture-backed companies selling. That was the lowest level since 2003.

“After moderating in the first quarter following a blistering pace in 2014, venture-backed IPO activity picked up some steam in the second quarter, delivering 27 high-growth companies to the public markets for investors to stake their claim to innovation economy,” said NVCA CEO Bobby Franklin in a release. “As has been the case over the last several quarters, life sciences companies continue to lead the way, representing 70% of total public offerings for the quarter with biotech companies alone accounting for 14 of the quarter’s venture-backed IPOs.”

San Francisco-based FitBit, the health and fitness tracking device maker, conducted the biggest IPO among venture-backed companies when it raised $841 million on the New York Stock Exchange on June 17th. FitBit’s stock is soaring, now more than double its $20 offering price.  In fact, 18 of the 27 companies that went public in the second quarter are showing stock prices above their initial public offering prices.

“On the heels of FitBit’s successful IPO, we will be watching to see if there is increased parity between the number of life sciences companies and technology companies making public offerings as the year progresses,” said Franklin.

The report noted that 55 venture-backed companies are currently filed to go public, while many others may have done so under the confidentiality protections of the JOBS Act.

Source: NVCA/Thomson Reuters
Source: NVCA/Thomson Reuters
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