Can Dropbox and Spotify Jump-Start the Venture Capital IPO Market?

Too Long; Didn't Read

In the past month, two of the largest unicorns, Dropbox and Spotify, filed for initial public offerings (IPOs). Dropbox followed the traditional route, seeking to raise $756mn on its 23 March <a href="https://hackernoon.com/tagged/ipo" target="_blank">IPO</a>, with an expected valuation of $8.2bn. This would make it the largest IPO since Snap, and one of the 10 largest <a href="https://hackernoon.com/tagged/venture-capital-backed" target="_blank">venture capital-backed</a> exits since 2009. Meanwhile, Spotify — which could potentially debut at double the size of Dropbox — initiated a direct listing of its shares on 3 April. Rather than raise capital for the company, the direct listing will offer liquidity to its current shareholders. How shares for both companies perform once they hit the open market remains to be seen, but the two IPOs combined with a strong first week of performance for fellow unicorn Zscaler, which held its IPO on 16 March, are promising developments for a market that has been relatively quiet in recent years.