After years of what can charitably be described as an IPO drought, Goldman Sachs sees the floodgates opening. The bank’s analysts are projecting around 100 initial public offerings in the US this year, with total proceeds potentially reaching $160 billion, a figure that would shatter previous records.

For context, only 61 US IPOs were completed in 2025. The jump Goldman is forecasting isn’t just a modest uptick. It’s a near-doubling of activity, and the early numbers suggest the thesis is tracking.

The numbers so far

As of late April, 25 IPOs have already priced this year, raising nearly $14 billion. That represents an approximately 80% increase in both deal volume and proceeds compared to the same period last year.

Goldman analyst Ben Snider has framed the expected acceleration as a return to typical market conditions rather than some kind of structural shift.

The bank’s IPO Barometer, an internal gauge that tracks how favorable conditions are for new listings, currently sits at 136. That’s in supportive territory, though Goldman acknowledges that execution readiness varies meaningfully across different sectors.

It’s worth noting that Goldman initially projected even higher activity. Back in February, the forecast called for roughly 120 deals raising $160 billion. By April, that deal count was trimmed to around 100 as market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty lingered. The proceeds target stayed the same.

The potential range for total issuance is wide: anywhere from $80 billion to $200 billion, depending on whether the marquee names actually make it to market.

The names that matter

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has noted the firm’s anticipation of “very, very large IPOs” this year. The names floated as potential candidates include SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

Goldman is reportedly positioned to lead SpaceX’s planned summer listing under the ticker SPCX.

What this means for investors

Goldman’s decision to revise its deal count downward in April shows that the macro backdrop isn’t exactly stable. Geopolitical tensions and market volatility have already forced one adjustment, and a meaningful deterioration in conditions could push outcomes toward the lower end of that $80 billion to $200 billion range.

The 2025 baseline of just 61 IPOs represented a market that was still recovering from the post-2021 hangover, when speculative listings and SPAC deals burned investors and made both issuers and underwriters more cautious.