Deliveroo, Bumble at centre of IPOs speculation amid growing investor confidence

Food delivery giant Deliveroo and women-text-first dating app Bumble have been at the centre of IPOs speculation for the new year. The markets are getting hyped up about grocery pickup service Instacart, hyperlocal social network Nextdoor and cybersecurity expert Darktrace. READ: Airbnb balloons in value on first day of dealings ‘’2021 is likely to herald in a fresh rush of IPOs with prospectuses full of promise. News of initial public offerings always provoke a flurry of interest with investors keen to get in on the action from the beginning,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “The number of companies planning an initial public offering is usually boosted at a time of booming consumer confidence and a buoyant economy. Yet, we’re still in the middle of a global pandemic, we’re grappling with the repercussions of a deep recession and hopes are fading fast of a sustained rebound in global growth.” Nonetheless, last year has seen a flurry of major flotations, such as online retailer owner THG Holdings PLC (LON:THG) in the UK and Airbnb Inc (NASDAQ:ABNB) in the US. The latter made great fanfare after joining the market just last month, rocketing by 116% to a US$100bn market capitalization on its first day of trading after being oversubscribed at US$68 a share. The tech sector has been particularly loved thanks to its soaring value, also helped by central bank stimulus and mounting optimism after vaccines started being rolled out. “It’s worth remembering that many retail investors have been locked out of immediate gains of the big IPOs of 2020 given that subscriptions have been mainly reserved for institutional investors, and ordinary investors have had to wait for the shares to begin trading to get in on the action,” Streeter continued. “In this speculative climate, it’s even more important that investors take a deep breath, do their research, and make sure they are really happy with the long-term prospects of the company before putting in their money. An IPO is never guaranteed until it’s successfully completed, but already there are some runners, riders and potential unicorns to keep an eye on in the weeks and months to come.”