9 Explosive PRE-IPO shares to Watch in 2021 | IPO Almanac

5 min readFeb 24, 2021

Most analysts mention the most popular companies that are well-known to everyone and may go public in the near future. I‘ve spent enough time and attention to such companies in the past (here), so now I’d like to show the list of companies that can bring a greater return on investment.

These companies have the potential to deliver a fantastic performance even though they are less well known.

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2020 was a record year for initial public offerings (IPOs), with 480 companies going public on U.S. stock exchanges, and more stocks doubling in their first day of trading than ever before. 2021 is on track to be another huge year for IPOs, and some innovative companies making public market debuts could go on to deliver tremendous returns.

Although retailers made up only a small portion of the IPOs in 2020, the number of retail IPOs has increased year over year, and I expect this trend to continue into 2021.

Market experts predict the US market’s strong IPO performance will continue through 2021, as low-interest rates and investor enthusiasm remain. A COVID-19 vaccine becoming more readily available in 2021 may also help strengthen the opportunities for privately-held retailers to enter the public markets.

TransferWise aka Wise IPO (Forecast Q2 or Q3 2021)

Founded Date — 2011(HQ, London, United Kingdom)
Founders — Kristo Kaarmann, Taavet Hinrikus

Funding traction, total raised ~$1.1B

Series A — 2013 at val. $23.15M, $0.88 pps
Series B — 2014 at val. $265.23M, $5.44 pps
Series C — 2015 at val. $740M, $23.39 pps
Series D — 2016 at val. $1.1B, $29.80 pps
Series E — 2017 at val. $1.6B, $32.52 pps
Secondary Round— 2019 at val. $3.6B, $80.1 pps
Secondary Round — 2020 at val. $5B (source)

TransferWise rebrands as Wise ahead of an expected IPO (source, source 2)

Squarespace IPO (Forecast May or June 2021)

Founded Date — 2003 (HQ, New York, United States)
Founders — Anthony Casalena

Funding traction — n/a

Squarespace raises $300M at a staggering $10B valuation (source 1)
Website-building company Squarespace confidentially files to go public (source, source 2)

AppLovin IPO (Forecast April or May 2021)

Founded Date — 2012 (HQ, San Francisco, US)
Founders —Adam Foroughi, Andrew Karam, John Krystynak

Unfortunately, information cannot be disclosed. Please contact the Company directly (FW — Investor Relationship @ Applovin)

KKR-backed AppLovin sets $1 billion as new placeholder amount for U.S. IPO (source)
AppLovin hires Morgan Stanley to lead IPO (source)

Intapp IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)

Founded Date — 2000 (HQ, San Francisco, US)
Founders — Daniel Harsell, Jay Borenstein, Thad Jampol, Tino Wuensche, Vera Newman

Unfortunately, information cannot be disclosed. Please contact the Company directly

Software Firm Intapp Is Said to Pick Banks for 2021 IPO (source)

Veeam IPO (Forecast Q4 2021 or Q1 2022)

Founded Date — 2006 (HQ, Baar, Zug, Switzerland)
Founders — Andrei Baronov, Ratmir Timashev

Funding history, total raised ~$500M + secure tractions

Veeam CEO talks IPO, M&A (source)

Rivian IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)

Founded Date — 2009 (HQ, Greater Detroit Area,Midwestern US)
Founders — Robert J. Scaringe

Rivian reportedly planning IPO in 2021 (source)
Amazon-Backed EV-Maker Rivian Said to Aim for IPO This Year (source)

Glossier IPO (Forecast Q4 2021 or Q1 2022)

Founded Date — 2009 (HQ, New York, US)
Founders —Emily Weiss

Funding traction, total raised ~$186.4M

Series A — 2014 at val. $24M, $1.3326 pps
Series B— 2016 at val. $130M, $4.4039 pps
Series C — 2018 at val. $390M, $9.9487 pps
Series D — 2019 at val. $1.22B, $29.585 pps

Will Glossier IPO in 2020? (source)

Automattic IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)

Founded Date — 2005 (HQ, San Francisco, US)
Founders — Matt Mullenweg

Funding traction, total raised ~$698M

Series A — 2005 at val. $3.9M, $0.1 pps
Series B — 2005 at val. $53M, $4.06 pps
Series C — 2014 at val. $1.2B, $18 pps
Series D — 2019 at val. $3B, $46 pps (source)
Secondary Round — 2020 / N/A

E119 — What an Automattic IPO in 2021 means for WordPress (source)

StockX IPO (Forecast Q4 2021 or Q1-Q2 2022)

Founded Date — 2015 (HQ,Greater Detroit Area, Midwestern US)
Founders — Chris Kaufman, Dan Gilbert, Greg Schwartz, Josh Luber

Unfortunately, information cannot be disclosed. Please contact the Company directly

StockX seeks $2.5 billion valuation as it eyes more funding (source)
The StockX megaround smells like pre-IPO money (source)

About the Author

Mr. Koch — is a serial entrepreneur and late-stage investor specializing in secondary shares.

Previously: Twilio, Xiaomi, iQiyi, Tilray, Livongo, Bandwidth, Agora, Hims

Currently: Robinhood, Grab, Toss, Coursera, Epic Games, Outreach, Chime, and other companies.

Contact — here, If you are a startup building in this space — email or DM me to be included on this article.

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The content was collected from various open sources, approved by companies, and does not provide any one-stop recommendation for the purchase of shares. All data was used for only informational purposes and does not contain insider information that may be malicious or refuted by the company and SEC.

This communication does not represent an offer or solicitation to buy or sell securities. Such an offer must be made via definitive legal documentation by the buyer or seller of securities, please check the SEC rules before buying shares from any stock-suppliers.