Analysis
Crunchbase identified eight startups as the clearest candidates for a narrowing 2026 IPO window, spanning AI, consumer health hardware, enterprise software, crypto, AI chips, clean-tech manufacturing, payments and healthcare AI, Crunchbase News reported. The framing is explicit: SpaceX's record-setting June IPO, which priced at $135 a share and closed near $161 on its first day, set a high bar for what a well-received listing looks like this year, and "with the year's end now in sight, a small window remains" for others to follow.
The Eight, Ranked by How Real the Timeline Is
- Anthropic -- the most advanced and highest-stakes name on the list by far, having already filed confidentially with the SEC and raised $125 billion to date; Pulse has tracked secondary-market marks pushing past $1.3-1.4 trillion. A six-to-twelve-month timeline puts a potential listing well inside this list's window.
- Oura -- the smart-ring maker has raised $1.5 billion and is reportedly seeking an $11 billion-plus valuation, with September or October IPO timing floated -- the most near-term listing candidate on the list by calendar proximity.
- Kraken -- filed a confidential SEC registration nearly a year ago; its co-CEO told reporters the crypto exchange is "about 80% ready" for a 2026 listing, the most specific readiness estimate of anyone on the list.
- SambaNova -- the AI chip company carries an $11 billion post-money valuation from its Series F, and its CEO is reportedly weighing a US listing next year, a timing decision shaped directly by competitor Cerebras pricing its own IPO at a $6.4 billion valuation.
- Notion -- has raised more than $343 million, and recent board appointments plus strong enterprise AI revenue growth are read as IPO-readiness signals, though the company hasn't confirmed a timeline.
- Stripe -- has raised $10.4 billion total and is described as "very likely" to go public eventually, but CEO Patrick Collison has said the company is "in no rush," the clearest signal on this list that inclusion doesn't mean imminent.
- Stegra -- a green-steel manufacturer that's raised $12.6 billion across equity and debt, with major automotive and industrial customers already locked in -- a clean-tech name that would diversify a 2026 IPO class otherwise dominated by AI and fintech.
- OpenEvidence -- an AI platform for doctors whose CEO has suggested its own IPO timing follows behind the foundation-model companies it depends on, making it a downstream bet on Anthropic and OpenAI listing first.
“A six-to-twelve-month timeline puts a potential listing well inside this list's window.”
Readiness Varies Enormously Across the List
The spread here matters more than the list itself: Kraken at "80% ready" and Stripe "in no rush" are functionally different categories of IPO candidate, even though both appear on the same list. Crunchbase's framing groups them by plausibility over some horizon, not by imminent timing, which means treating all eight as 2026 listings would overstate how many of these companies actually price this year. Anthropic and Oura are the two names with the most concrete near-term signals; Stripe and Notion are multi-year "eventually" stories that happen to fit the sector narrative.
The SambaNova-Cerebras Read-Through
SambaNova weighing its own listing specifically because Cerebras already priced at $6.4 billion is a useful data point for the broader AI chip IPO pipeline: once one comparable company prices publicly, every other company in the category gets a hard valuation anchor its own board and investors can't ignore, whether it wants one or not. That dynamic will likely repeat across categories as more of this list actually files -- each listing becomes the next candidate's forced comparable, for better or worse depending on how the market receives it.
What determines whether this window stays open through year-end: how SpaceX's stock performs after its initial pop, since a strong aftermarket, not just a strong opening day, is what actually convinces boards still deciding whether 2026 or 2027 is the safer year to list.
