Large VC rounds from SoftBank, others contributed to slowdown in tech IPOs; just 12 VC-backed tech firms have IPOed in US in 2017 vs. 27 in same period in 2014
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (Reuters) - Big cash infusions for startups from an ever-expanding group of financiers, led by SoftBank Group Corp …
Context & Ripple Effects
This 2017 drought extends a slump already flagged in mid-2015, when only seven VC-backed tech companies had gone public and the year tracked as the slowest since the financial crisis (the slowest VC-backed tech IPO year since the crisis). What changed is the cause: instead of weak appetite for listings, abundant late-stage capital — led by SoftBank Group's outsized funds — lets companies finance growth privately and simply skip the IPO.
The arithmetic frames why it matters: 12 VC-backed tech IPOs in 2017 against 27 in the same stretch of 2014, even as total venture dollars kept climbing — later data shows a record $130B deployed in the US in 2020 across a deal count that had fallen two years running (record $130B in VC funding on a shrinking deal count).
First-order effects
- Late-stage startups with SoftBank-scale private backing no longer need public markets to fund expansion, directly cutting the listing volume and fees flowing to US exchanges and underwriters.
- Founders and early employees defer cashing out, stretching the holding period on paper gains that a 2014-era company would already have converted through an IPO.
Second-order effects
- A deferred pipeline builds pressure that releases in bursts once the window reopens — the related coverage shows US tech IPO volume nearly doubling in the first half of 2018 after the 2017 drought.
- Private substitutes grow around the gap: by late 2022, a slow IPO market combined with falling VC deals was pushing startups toward debt-based financing (startups turning to debt-based options).
Third-order effects
- Capital concentrates at the top: PitchBook counts active US VCs falling from a 2021 peak while nine firms raised more than half of the $71B gathered in 2024, making mega-round providers gatekeepers of which companies get to keep deferring an exit.
- If the pattern holds, public markets shift from funding tech growth to monetizing mature winners, structurally narrowing ordinary investors' access to early-stage tech returns.
The trend: Venture capital is consolidating into fewer, larger checks that substitute for the IPO as the industry's default liquidity event, turning public listings into a delayed, lumpy release valve.