Rainwood Capital Top 5 Upcoming IPOs To Watch In 2022

Over the past year, a number of hot companies underwent initial public offerings, but that doesn’t mean investors looking for the best new upcoming IPO in 2022 have nowhere to turn. Yes, a record-setting 1,000 companies went public in 2021, raising $315 billion as of late December – and smashing the previous record of less than $200 billion. Roblox Corp. (ticker: RBLX), Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN), Rivian Automotive Inc. (RIVN) and Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD) were some of the year’s most notable debuts. But there’s still appetite for a number of private companies yet to take the dive, whether they opt for a traditional IPO, a direct listing or the special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, route. Here are 10 of the most anticipated potential IPOs to watch in 2022.

Reddit

Reddit is virtually guaranteed to be one of the most anticipated upcoming IPOs to watch in 2022, as the social media platform uses the cachet it earned from 2021’s meme stock frenzy to get a taste of Wall Street itself. The company’s valuation has been “mooning” in recent years, advancing from $3 billion in 2020 to an August 2021 funding round that pegged the company’s worth at $10 billion. Reddit filed confidentially to go public in December 2021, meaning that, barring unforeseen circumstances, the wildly popular message board site will go public in 2022. At the start of 2021, Reddit had 52 million daily active users, and in the second quarter, it earned $100 million in advertising revenue, nearly triple what it earned in the same period a year prior. Reddit will reportedly seek a valuation of more than $15 billion when it goes public.

Potential 2022 IPO valuation: More than $15 billion.

Discord

Chat app Discord is considered a contender to tap the public markets in the coming year. The company has certainly captured mainstream attention: A favorite of gamers and cryptocurrency projects, the young-skewing app reportedly doubled its users in 2020 as the pandemic forced people to connect online. It boasts 150 million monthly active users, and revenue nearly tripled in 2020, jumping to $130 million from $45 million the prior year. It ended up being serendipitous that a deal worth at least $10 billion, in which Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) would acquire Discord, fell apart in April 2021. By September, the company raised $500 million at a $15 billion valuation.

Potential 2022 IPO valuation: More than $15 billion.

Stripe

Last and certainly not least on the list of most anticipated upcoming IPOs to watch for 2022 is Stripe, the Irish-American fintech company that’s the apple of private investors’ eye. Despite recent reports that Stripe was discussing a 2022 IPO with financiers, this public debut is a bit aspirational at the moment: Co-founder John Collison told CNBC in November that the company was perfectly happy staying private. The firm makes payments software for e-commerce and processes payments for a number of massive players, including trillion-dollar Big Tech behemoths Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google. Stripe would be one of the year’s most hyped and sought-after IPOs, as its April 2021 $95 billion valuation made it the most valuable venture-backed private company in the U.S. Since then, SpaceX has surpassed Stripe in that regard, although Stripe’s next funding round is almost certain to be higher than its last.
Potential 2022 IPO valuation: More than $100 billion

Instacart

Just because Instacart was one of the most anticipated public debuts of 2021 doesn’t prevent it from repeating as one of the hottest IPOs to watch for in 2022. The grocery delivery giant, which enjoys backing from a who’s-who of Silicon Valley venture capital firms like Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and Y Combinator, pushed back plans to go public in 2021 as it focused on battling increased competition from the likes of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER), as well as expanding its digital advertising services, a large growth opportunity given the primed-to-buy shoppers flocking to its site. Revenue reportedly more than tripled in 2020, to $1.5 billion, but growth is expected to slow to a low-double-digit pace. Instacart is almost sure to go public in time, but with heavy backing, there’s no now-or-never urgency.

Potential 2022 IPO valuation: $39 billion.

Chime

The financial technology, or fintech, space has grown rapidly in recent years, with companies like Block Inc. (SQ) and PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL) among those at the forefront. One of fintech’s allures is that it makes financial services more accessible and seamless, and Chime takes that a step further by disavowing predatory fees that disproportionally affect the poor and financially uneducated. Chime does away with monthly fees, overdraft fees, account minimums and more, and this philosophy, along with its mobile-first online banking, has been a hit with consumers and investors alike. In October 2020, the company earned a $15 billion private valuation, only to garner a $25 billion valuation in August 2021. The company is reportedly targeting a valuation between $35 billion and $45 billion in an IPO that could come as soon as the first quarter of 2022.

Potential 2022 IPO valuation: $35 billion to $45 billion.