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The SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis has published updated statistics and data visualizations focused on key segments of the U.S. capital markets, and the trends are looking positive in the first half of 2026 in terms of the number and volume of IPOs and registered follow-on offerings. The SEC announcement notes:

In the first half of 2026, IPO and follow-on offering activity showed year-over-year growth:

– IPOs: There were 208 IPOs raising over $137 billion in the first half of 2026, compared with 180 IPOs raising over $27 billion in the first half of 2025. This represents an approximately 16% increase in the number of IPOs and nearly 400% increase in proceeds raised.

– Follow-on offerings: There were 557 follow-on registered offerings raising over $111 billion in the first half of 2026, compared with 505 offerings raising nearly $84 billion in the first half of 2025. This represents an approximately 10% increase in the number of offerings and a 33% increase in proceeds raised.

These and other statistics can be found on the SEC’s public statistics and data visualizations webpage. The webpage provides statistics presented in time series charts to show market trends, pie charts to show distribution across different categories, as well as heat maps to show geographic distributions. The visuals are interactive and downloadable, thus allowing the public to explore the information they are interested in.

“DERA’s latest data highlight the continued strengthening of U.S. capital formation under Chairman Atkins, with notable growth in both IPOs and follow on offerings,” said Dr. Joshua T. White, Chief Economist and Director of the SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis. “By expanding access to transparent, high quality data and analysis, DERA aims to equip the public, market participants, and policymakers with insights that support resilient and well functioning capital markets.”

It is notable to me that the first-half-of-2026 IPO boom has occurred against a backdrop of market volatility, economic headwinds and geopolitical uncertainty. In my experience, any one of those trends is often enough to discourage bankers from attempting to take a company public, but the IPO machine has continued chugging along despite all of the uncertainty. Hopefully, offerings will continue apace for the balance of 2026!

– Dave Lynn