Tech, Media, and Telecom IPO Themes 2018 to 2021 - Thematic Research
Summary
2021 was the strongest year for tech, media, and telecom (TMT) IPOs since 2018 with $237 billion of IPO proceeds raised. This report analyzes IPO activity between 2018 and 2021, identifying the themes that have generated the highest investor returns.
Key Highlights
- Established themes have seen the most successful IPOs between 2018 and 2021. Ecommerce has been the strongest theme driving TMT IPOs since 2018. It is followed by mobile, fintech, and cloud. Cutting-edge technologies like electric vehicles, digital media, healthtech, Internet of Things (IoT), gaming, artificial intelligence (AI), and cybersecurity have been moderately successful in raising capital. By contrast, we have only just started seeing listings of early-stage technologies like blockchain, quantum computing, metaverse, and space economy.
- Our research identified the themes that generated the highest investor returns in the TMT IPO market between January 1, 2018, and January 10, 2022. To do this, we calculated the capital gain an IPO investor would have made by holding the shares from the IPO date until January 10, 2022. The most lucrative themes for investors in TMT IPOs over the last four years were cloud, fintech, cybersecurity, mobile, and gaming.
- In preparing this report, we looked at 1,335 global TMT companies that made an initial public offering of their shares from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021.
- The combined IPO proceeds of these deals stood at $469.6 billion.
- Of these 1,335 IPOs, we selected those where IPO proceeds were greater than or equal to $50 million for thematic analysis. That left us with a total of 808 IPOs that took place in the TMT sector globally from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021, with combined IPO proceeds of $461.6 billion.
- Each of these 808 selected IPOs were tagged to a theme to allow us to analyze the major trends in the IPO market since the beginning of 2018.
- This report will help you understand the themes driving IPOs in the TMT sector. It identifies the themes generating the highest investor returns since 2018, including cloud, fintech, cybersecurity, mobile, and gaming.
- It also provides geographic analysis of TMT IPO activity since 2018, including analysis of why Chinese companies are abandoning US listings and returning home.
- The report includes a TMT IPO pipeline for 2022, giving readers an insight into the key IPOs planned for the coming year. ByteDance's listing in China is expected to be the biggest IPO in 2022, and we will also see at least eight AI companies go public this year.
- Also included is analysis of IPO activity driven by 10 critical themes: ecommerce, mobile, fintech, cloud, electric vehicles, digital media, healthtech, Internet of Things, gaming, and artificial intelligence.
Companies Mentioned
aCommerce
ADT
Advantage Solutions
Afiniti
Airbnb
Airtel Africa PLC
Alibaba Group Holding
Alight Solutions
Allego
Allegro
Allfunds
Alphawave IP Group
American Well (Amwell)
Amplitude
Appier
AppLovin
Arrival
Arteria
Asana
Babylon Healthcare
Baidu
Better.com
BigBear.ai
Bilibili
BlackSky
Bukalapak
Bullish
Byju's
ByteDance
C3.ai
Cambricon Technologies
Change Healthcare
Cherry
Chime
China Mobile
China Railway Signal & Communication
China Resources Microelectronics
China Telecom
China Tower Corp Ltd
Circle Internet
Cloudwalk
Clover health
Coinbase Global
Core Scientific
Coupang
Cybereason
Databricks
DataRobot
Dave
Delhivery
Didi Chuxing
DoorDash
DouYu International Holdings Ltd
Doximity
Draftkings
Droom
Dropbox
E2Open
Endeavor
eToro Group
Everdisplay optronics
Evolv Technology
Faraday Future
FinAccel
Fisker
Flipkart
Foxconn Industrial Internet Co Ltd
Freee
Freshworks
Getty Images
GlobalFoundries
Good doctor (Ping An Healthcare And Technology Co Ltd)
GoodRx
Grab
Graphcore
Griid
Hashicorp
Hensoldt
Hinge Health
Horizon Robotics
Huuuge Games
Informatica
Inpost
Instacart
Iqiyi
ironSource
JD Health
JD Logistics
JD.com
Justworks
Kakao Pay
KE Holdings
Klarna
KORE Wireless
Krafton
Kraken
Kredivo
Kuaishou
Lalamove
Li Auto
Lime
LinkDoc
Lordstown Motors
Lucid Motors
Lufax
Megvii
Meituan Dianping
Mercari
Mitratel
Mobileye
Multiplan
N26
NetEase
Network International Holdings
Nikola
Nio
Noom
Nubank
Nuix
Ola Cabs
One Career
One97 Communications
OneConnect
Oscar Health
Oyo Rooms
Pagaya Technologies
Pagseguro
Palantir
Paysafe
Pexa
Pharmeasy
Pinduoduo
Pine Labs
Playtika
Plus Alpha Consulting
PlusAI
Polestar
Qualtrics International
QuantumScape
Rappi
Reddit
Rivian
Robinhood
Roblox
Safie
Samsara
Sansan
SciPlay corp
SES
SGHC (Super Group)
SK Technology
Skillz
Slack Technologies
SmartRent
SmileDirectClub
Snapdeal
Snowflake
SoFi
SoftBank Corp
Solutions by STC
Sportradar
Spotify
Squarespace
Stem
Suse
Swiggy
Symbiotic
Syniverse Technologies
Taboola
Teamviewer
TELUS International
Tencent Music Entertainment Group
The Hut Group
Toast
TPG
Tracxn
TransferWise
Tuya
Uber Technologies
UiPath
UMG
Unity Software
Vantage Towers
Via
View
Virgin Orbit
Visional
Vivint
Warby Parker
Warner Music Group Corp.
WeDoctor
Weibo
Xiaomi Corp
Ximalaya
XPeng
Yitu Technology
ZipRecruiter
Zomato
ZoomInfo
- Executive Summary
- Key takeaways
- 2021 was the strongest IPO year for TMT companies since 2018
- Established themes have seen the most successful IPOs
- Cloud and fintech IPOs generated the highest investor returns
- In volume terms, the US is the biggest TMT IPO market over the last four years
- By IPO proceeds, the US is also the biggest TMT IPO market over the last four years
- 2021 saw a higher number of SPAC merger IPOs, direct listings, and secondary listings
- The TMT IPO pipeline for 2022 looks crowded
- TMT IPO Market 2018 to 2021 Deal Analysis
- Between 2018 and 2021 there were 1,335 TMT IPOs globally, which raised $470 billion
- 2021 was the strongest year for TMT IPOs, both in volume and value terms
- 39% of the TMT IPOs were in the US over the 2018-2021 period
- TMT IPOs in the US more than doubled in 2021 vs. 2020
- The US is the biggest TMT IPO market by IPO proceeds
- US dominance of total IPO proceeds increased in 2021
- The US had the highest number of billion-dollar TMT IPOs
- TMT IPO Market 2021 Highlights
- 2021 was a record year for billion-dollar TMT IPOs
- SPAC IPO merger mania increased in 2021
- Direct listings became popular for TMT companies in 2021
- Table Direct listings became popular for TMT companies in 2021
- Chinese TMT companies continued to list in the US in 2021
- Other Chinese companies returned home amid rising tensions
- TMT IPO Market 2022 Outlook
- At least 16 TMT IPOs already in the pipeline for 2022
- We expect many more ecommerce IPOs in 2022
- TMT companies will continue to merge with SPACs to go public
- TMT IPO Market Thematic Drivers, 2018 to 2021
- Established themes have seen the most successful IPOs
- Ecommerce drove nine out of the top 20 TMT IPOs from 2018 to 2021
- Proceeds from ecommerce IPOs grew at a 77% CAGR between 2018 and 2021
- Cloud and fintech IPOs generated the highest investor returns
- In the US, ecommerce and fintech were the biggest themes driving TMT IPOs since 2018
- Six of the top 10 TMT IPOs in the US were driven by ecommerce since 2018
- In China, mobile and ecommerce were the biggest themes driving the TMT IPOs
- Ecommerce and mobile together drove seven of the top 10 Chinese TMT IPOs since 2018
- In EMEA, ecommerce and fintech were the top two themes driving TMT IPOs since 2018
- Ecommerce and mobile drove seven of the top 10 TMT IPOs in EMEA since 2018
- In Asian countries (excluding-China and Japan) fintech was the biggest IPO driver
- Nine of the top 10 IPOs in Asia (excluding China and Japan) were in 2021
- In Japan, mobile was the biggest theme driving the TMT IPOs since 2018
- Softbank's 2018 listing in Tokyo is the biggest TMT IPO in Japan
- Top 10 Themes Driving TMT IPOs 2018 to 2021
- Explore the top 10 themes driving TMT IPOs since 2018
- Ecommerce
- 2021 was a mega year for ecommerce IPOs
- Six of the top 10 ecommerce listings were in the US
- Mobile
- Mobile driven IPOs grew by 60% in 2021 compared to 2020
- Three of the top five mobile IPOs were in China or Hong Kong
- Fintech
- Fintech IPOs have increased more than thrice between since 2018
- Seven of the top 10 fintech IPOs were in US exchanges
- Cloud
- Cloud IPOs have almost tripled from 2018 to 2021
- Nine of the top 10 cloud IPOs were in American exchanges, six of them were in 2021
- Electric Vehicles
- Electric vehicle IPOs have grown rapidly since 2020
- The US saw all the top electric vehicle IPOs
- Digital Media
- 2021 was the biggest year for digital media IPOs
- Bilibili's separate Hong Kong and US listings are both in the top 10 digital media IPOs
- Healthtech
- Healthtech IPOs have increased 3.5 times from 2020 to 2021
- Eight of the top 10 healthtech-driven listings were in American exchanges
- Internet of Things
- There were 21 IoT-related IPOs in 2020 and another 23 in 2021
- Foxconn Industrial Internet's 2018 listing in China is the biggest IoT listing since 2018
- Gaming
- In 2021, gaming driven IPOs grew by 40% compared to 2020
- Krafton's 2021 listing in South Korea is the biggest gaming IPO since 2018
- Artificial Intelligence
- 2021 saw the greatest number of AI companies going public
- Baidu's 2021 listing in Hong Kong is the biggest AI IPO, followed by UiPath's IPO in the US
- Deal Selection Methodology
- Theme Tagging Methodology
- Glossary
- Further Reading
- Our Thematic Research Methodology
- About GlobalData
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