European venture-backed IPOs the lowest in a decade
The economic downturn is difficult for many European startups. Over two-thirds of European companies that have gone public since 2022 are trading below their IPO price as European venture-backed IPOs near decade lows. But there are exceptions. Social media platform TaTaTu has registered a 258% increase since going public last year, according to capital market data company PitchBook.
“The number of VC-backed IPOs in Europe has dropped significantly since 2021’s peak with 2023 potentially on track for its lowest count in over a decade.”
PitchBook data shows in 2023, only 13 VC-backed IPOs have closed with a combined value of around €183 million compared with 51 IPOs totalling €3.1 billion last year.
“Out of 53 VC-backed European businesses—with available listing and current share prices—that went public since the beginning of last year, 64.2% have seen their shares fall below their listing price”, according to PitchBook data.
The company says that of those VC-backed European companies whose share prices have dropped, 19 have experienced a fall of over 50%.
“Some of the biggest drops include sleep disorder company Learning to Sleep, which is currently trading at 99.3% less than its listing price, and blockchain-based fintech platform Smart Valor, whose share price has dropped 96.1% since its February 2022 IPO.”
“The poor performance among many startups that have recently listed has likely discouraged others from going public, hence the decline in European IPOs. In contrast, the MSCI World, which measures the performance of equity markets across developed countries, was up 15.4% as of the end of Q2”, PitchBook says.
“But while the majority are seeing declines, some have delivered impressive performances on public exchanges. Noctiluca, a developer of OLED (organic light-emitting diode) emitters, has seen its share price rise 377% since its IPO last year, while social media platform TaTaTu has registered a 258% increase.”
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