Top IPOs to Watch — Vol. 2: SpaceX, Anthropic, Anduril + 6 More — May 2026

The Roster — Week of May 19, 2026

Company	Valuation	IPO Status	Heat
SpaceX / Starlink	$1.75T–$2T (target)	S-1 public filing imminent; roadshow June 4	🔥🔥🔥
Anthropic	~$900B (May 2026)	IPO targeting Q4 2026; banks engaged	🔥🔥🔥
Anduril ⬆️ promoted	$61B (May 13, 2026)	No filing; earliest IPO 2027+	🔥🔥🔥
OpenAI	$852B (April 2026)	S-1 expected Q4 2026; no public filing yet	🔥🔥🔥
Databricks	$134B (Dec 2025)	S-1 expected H2 2026	🔥🔥
Stripe	$159B (Feb 2026 tender)	No filing; CEO says “no near-term plans”	🔥🔥
Cursor (Anysphere)	~$50B (round in progress)	CEO: “not looking to IPO anytime soon”	🔥🔥
Crusoe	$10–13B (2025–early 2026)	Pre-IPO fundraise in progress; 2026 candidate	🔥
Kraken	$20B (May 2026 raise)	Confidential S-1 filed; CEO says “80% ready”	🔥🔥

1. SpaceX / Starlink — The S-1 Is Coming This Week

What changed this week: This is the one you’ve been waiting for. SpaceX confidentially filed its draft S-1 with the SEC back on April 1, and per CNBC’s sources on May 14, the public prospectus is expected to land on SEC EDGAR as early as May 21. The roadshow is targeting a June 4 kickoff, pricing on June 11, and a first trading day on June 12. The company is seeking a valuation of $1.75 trillion or higher — some reports put the internal target above $2 trillion — which would make it the largest IPO in history by a wide margin. One notable wrinkle: SpaceX absorbed a $4.94 billion loss from its merger with Elon Musk’s xAI, which will appear on the combined balance sheet. That’s not a rounding error; it’ll be the first thing analysts grill management on during the roadshow.

Valuation: $1.75T–$2T target, up from the ~$350B private-market valuation of two years ago. Starlink alone, with 9M+ subscribers and projected 2025 revenue of $15–16B, drives the bulk of this.

Pros:

• Starlink is a genuine infrastructure monopoly in low-earth orbit broadband — there is no comparable competitor at scale
• S-1 filing removes uncertainty; a hard IPO date is now on the calendar
• Revenue base ($15–16B estimated 2025) is real, not projected
• Potential inclusion in major indices will force passive fund buying at IPO

Cons:

• Dual-class share structure — Elon Musk retains near-total voting control; public shareholders get the economics but not the governance
• $4.94B xAI merger loss hits the combined entity immediately; expect tough questions on integration costs
• At $2T, you are paying for perfection — any Starlink subscriber slowdown or launch failure reprices this fast
• Geopolitical exposure: Starlink’s government contract leverage is both a moat and a political risk

Retail action: The S-1 drops this week — read the revenue and subscriber numbers before the roadshow hype machine starts. If you want pre-IPO proxy exposure now, DXYZ holds SpaceX as a top position. ARKX (ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF) is the listed ETF with the most Starlink-adjacent exposure via Rocket Lab and other launch infrastructure names. See our full Starlink IPO deep-dive for the complete analysis.

2. Anthropic — $900 Billion in One Quarter

What changed this week: Bloomberg reported on May 12 that Anthropic has agreed terms on a $30 billion funding round at approximately $900 billion valuation. That’s not a typo. In February 2026, Anthropic closed a round at $380 billion. It has now nearly tripled its valuation in a single quarter. The fuel for this re-rating is revenue that is genuinely hard to dispute: the company’s annualized revenue run rate hit $9 billion at the end of 2025, crossed $30 billion by April 2026, and is projected to surpass $45 billion in ARR shortly. TechCrunch sources describe this round as potentially Anthropic’s final private fundraise before an IPO targeting Q4 2026, with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley in early discussions.

Valuation: ~$900B (Bloomberg, May 12, 2026), up from $380B in February 2026.

Pros:

• Revenue growth from $9B to $30B ARR in six months is one of the fastest in enterprise software history
• Three top-tier banks already in early IPO discussions — this isn’t rumor, it’s process
• Claude Code and API adoption are driving enterprise stickiness that OpenAI hasn’t matched on reliability
• If IPO happens at Q4 2026, retail investors could participate at listing

Cons:

• $900B valuation is roughly 30x current ARR — historically extreme even for the fastest-growing AI companies
• No disclosed path to profitability; compute costs scale with revenue
• Competition from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Meta is intensifying — Claude’s lead could compress
• IPO at near-$1T means the public market debut may price perfection in; early investors capture most of the upside

Retail action: No direct access yet. ARKVX holds Anthropic shares (check current allocation on ark-funds.com). DXYZ also has exposure. If Q4 2026 IPO materializes, prepare to apply through your broker’s IPO allocation program — see our Best Brokers for IPO Access guide for where retail actually gets shares.

3. Anduril — Defense Tech’s New Heavyweight

What changed this week: On May 13, Anduril Industries closed a $5 billion Series H funding round at a $61 billion valuation, led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (CNBC, Bloomberg, May 13). This more than doubles the company’s $30.5 billion valuation from just under a year ago, when it raised $2.5 billion. The catalyst is straightforward: Anduril doubled revenue in 2025 to $2.2 billion, driven by U.S. defense contracts for autonomous systems, border technology, and AI-powered command infrastructure. This week’s raise alone exceeded the total capital raised by most defense primes in a single round. Anduril is being promoted to the core roster this week; Polymarket, with a 2027+ IPO timeline, moves to Honorable Mentions.

Valuation: $61B (as of May 13, 2026, per Bloomberg). Prior: $30.5B (Series G, ~May 2025).

Pros:

• Revenue at $2.2B and growing — this is not a pre-revenue AI bet, it’s a scaling defense contractor
• Defense spending tailwinds are structural; NATO commitments and U.S. budget priorities favor autonomous systems
• Palmer Luckey has built a genuine Lockheed/Raytheon disruptor in under a decade
• Round was led by Thrive and a16z — best-in-class institutional validation

Cons:

• No confirmed IPO date and no S-1 filing; earliest realistic timeline is 2027
• Single-customer concentration risk — U.S. government is most of the business
• Defense contracts can be delayed, canceled, or renegotiated; revenue is lumpy by nature
• At $61B, there is no public market comparator — pricing this fairly is genuinely hard

Retail action: No direct retail access currently. Hiive and UpMarket may list Anduril shares for accredited investors — check both platforms. ARKX’s November 2025 rebrand to “Space & Defense Innovation” opens the door for Anduril inclusion as the fund evolves. Watch for DXYZ to add a position if shares become available on secondary markets.

4. OpenAI — The $1 Trillion Race

What changed this week: No new public filings from OpenAI this week. The story remains the same as Vol. 1: CFO Sarah Friar has flagged late 2026 or 2027 as the most likely listing window, and no S-1 has appeared on SEC EDGAR. However, the private secondary market is telling a different story — implied valuation has moved above $1 trillion in early trading, per analyst estimates, as the $122 billion raise at $852 billion closed in April. Monthly revenue is running at approximately $2 billion, and the company is structurally loss-making at scale due to compute costs. The ChatGPT consumer brand is the most recognized in AI — that has real value at IPO — but it also carries the most regulatory overhang of any name on this list.

Valuation: $852B (April 2026, $122B raise per CNBC). Secondary market implying $1T+ pre-IPO.

Pros:

• Strongest consumer brand in AI globally; ChatGPT has 800M+ weekly users
• $2B/month revenue run rate provides real IPO narrative
• Microsoft partnership backstops compute access and enterprise distribution

Cons:

• No S-1, no confirmed date — CFO has privately suggested waiting until 2027
• Structural losses at scale; profitability pathway unclear
• Legal and regulatory overhang from DOJ, EU AI Act, and ongoing litigation
• Sam Altman’s governance history (November 2023 board crisis) is a disclosed risk factor investors will price in

Retail action: DXYZ holds OpenAI. ARKVX holds OpenAI. Both are the cleanest listed vehicles for exposure before a public offering. Read our OpenAI IPO 2026 deep-dive for the full breakdown.

5. Databricks — The Profitable AI Story

What changed this week: No new funding news this week, but the Databricks story is strengthening with every passing quarter. The company’s most recent metrics: $5.4 billion annualized revenue run rate for the January quarter, growing 65% year-over-year, with positive free cash flow over the trailing year. AI product revenue hit $1.4 billion — about 26% of total revenue. CEO Ali Ghodsi told CNBC in December 2025 that he “wouldn’t rule out a 2026 IPO,” and the $5B Series L at $134B (CNBC, February 2026) included $2B in debt capacity that screams pre-IPO readiness. S-1 filing is expected in the second half of 2026.

Valuation: $134B (Series L, closed February 2026, per CNBC). Prior round was ~$62B in 2023.

Pros:

• Profitable on a free cash flow basis — rare among AI unicorns at this valuation
• 65% YoY growth at $5.4B ARR is exceptional enterprise software performance
• Lakebase architecture positions it as infrastructure for the AI economy, not a point solution
• S-1 expected H2 2026 — a real near-term catalyst

Cons:

• $134B valuation is roughly 25x ARR — expensive even for this growth rate
• Snowflake is a direct competitor and has struggled post-IPO; analysts will make the comparison
• Enterprise software cycles; a macro slowdown hits IT budgets first

Retail action: No direct access pre-IPO for most retail investors. ARKVX holds Databricks. Read our Databricks IPO 2026 deep-dive for a full valuation analysis. When the S-1 drops, apply through IPO-access brokers (see our broker guide).

6. Stripe — The $159B Company That Doesn’t Need to IPO

What changed this week: Nothing — and that’s the story. Stripe hit a $159 billion valuation in a February 2026 tender offer (PYMNTS), processing $1.9 trillion in global payment volume annually. The company is profitable. It has the cash to stay private indefinitely. CEO Patrick Collison has repeatedly said Stripe has “the luxury of not needing to IPO.” No S-1 has been filed as of today. What’s changed: Stripe’s secondary market price has crept up alongside the broader AI-driven tech re-rating, and the $159B valuation from the tender offer is the freshest read on where insiders peg fair value.

Valuation: $159B (February 2026 tender offer, per PYMNTS). Prior: $65B at the 2023 down round.

Pros:

• $1.9T in annual payment volume is a genuine network-effect moat
• Profitable — no pressure to go public for liquidity reasons
• 2023 down round was the floor; valuation has more than doubled since

Cons:

• No IPO catalyst on the horizon — this could stay private through 2027 or beyond
• Payments margins compress as competition (Adyen, Block, PayPal) fights for enterprise share
• Without a public listing, retail investors can only access via secondary markets at a steep premium

Retail action: Secondary market access on Forge (Schwab) or Hiive, but minimum investment sizes are high and shares may trade at a premium to tender pricing. No listed fund has meaningful Stripe exposure at this time.

7. Cursor (Anysphere) — $50 Billion and Still Accelerating

What changed this week: Anysphere is in advanced talks to close a $2 billion funding round at a $50 billion pre-money valuation, nearly doubling its $29.3 billion post-money valuation from November 2025 (The Next Web, April 2026). The round is reported to be oversubscribed, co-led by a16z and Thrive Capital, with Nvidia as a strategic investor. Revenue has doubled to $2 billion ARR in the five months since its November raise — when it had just crossed $1 billion ARR. The company is projecting $6 billion ARR by end of 2026. CEO Michael Truell has explicitly stated Cursor is not looking to IPO “anytime soon.”

Valuation: ~$50B (round in progress as of late April 2026). Prior: $29.3B (November 2025).

Pros:

• $2B ARR growing at a pace that makes most SaaS companies look slow
• Developer tools have exceptional retention — switching costs from Cursor are high once teams adopt it
• Nvidia participation signals the AI compute stack is betting on Cursor as the developer interface

Cons:

• CEO has explicitly ruled out near-term IPO; this is a 2028+ story at best
• GitHub Copilot, Google Gemini Code, and Claude Code are all direct competitors from larger platforms
• At $50B on $2B ARR, the round multiple is 25x — high even for this growth rate

Retail action: EquityZen (now Morgan Stanley) lists Anysphere shares for accredited investors. Check current availability. No major listed fund has disclosed a position yet.

8. Crusoe — The AI Factory No One Is Talking About

What changed this week: Axios reported in March 2026 that Crusoe is raising a pre-IPO funding round, with ION Analytics flagging the company as actively monitored for a 2026 IPO. The company closed its $1.375 billion Series E in October 2025 at a $10 billion valuation (co-led by Valor Equity Partners and Mubadala Capital, with Nvidia and Founders Fund participating). Secondary market transactions have reportedly valued shares at a 30% premium to that equity round, implying a $13 billion valuation. A key IPO signal: Crusoe hired Michael Gordon as COO and CFO — the executive who led MongoDB’s 2017 IPO.

Valuation: $10–13B (Series E October 2025; secondary market at ~30% premium as of early 2026).

Pros:

• Revenue projected from $276M in 2024 to $998M in 2025 — nearly 4x growth
• CFO hire with IPO experience is a concrete preparation signal
• AI data center demand is structural; Crusoe’s sustainable compute angle differentiates it
• Nvidia, Founders Fund, and Mubadala as backers validate the infrastructure thesis

Cons:

• At $10-13B, Crusoe is the smallest name on this list by valuation — less Wall Street oxygen
• Hyperscaler competition (AWS, Google, Azure) is the permanent ceiling risk for AI infrastructure plays
• Pre-IPO fundraise suggests they need more capital before a public listing can happen

Retail action: Hiive and UpMarket are the places to check for secondary availability. No listed fund has disclosed a Crusoe position. Watch for S-1 filing in late 2026 if the pre-IPO round closes cleanly.

9. Kraken — “80% Ready” and Raising at $20 Billion

What changed this week: At the Consensus Miami crypto conference, Payward co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the exchange is “80% ready” to go public — the most bullish public statement on timeline the company has made. Simultaneously, CoinDesk reported on May 8 that Payward is raising fresh capital at a $20 billion valuation, up from the $13.3 billion implied by Deutsche Börse’s April 2026 investment. For context: Kraken confidentially filed a draft S-1 with the SEC on November 19, 2025, and put IPO plans on hold in March 2026 citing market conditions. The “80% ready” language suggests those conditions have improved to their satisfaction.

Valuation: $20B (May 2026 raise target, per CoinDesk). Deutsche Börse deal in April implied $13.3B — the delta suggests management is marking itself up before the roadshow.

Pros:

• Confidential S-1 already filed — the regulatory groundwork is done
• Crypto markets are in a strong cycle; IPO timing into a bull market is smart
• Deutsche Börse as a strategic investor adds international institutional credibility
• One of only two major crypto exchanges (with Coinbase) with a realistic U.S. public listing path

Cons:

• Valuation swing from $13.3B to $20B in six weeks is a yellow flag — management may be reaching
• IPO plans were already paused once in March 2026; crypto volatility can delay this again
• Coinbase (COIN) is the direct public comps; COIN has had a rough post-IPO history that analysts will use as a discount factor
• Crypto exchange revenue is correlated with market cycles — a downturn reprices this dramatically

Retail action: Forge (Schwab) and Hiive have listed Kraken shares in the past. Check current availability. When the public S-1 drops, apply through IPO-access brokers. Coinbase (COIN) is the listed proxy — it moves directionally with crypto exchange sentiment.

Honorable Mentions

Polymarket — Dropped from core roster this week to make room for Anduril, but still worth watching. Bloomberg reported on April 20 that Polymarket is seeking $400 million at a $15 billion valuation — a 66% premium to its $9 billion valuation from 2025. Volume on the platform is tracking toward $240 billion in 2026, up from $51 billion last year. The relationship with Intercontinental Exchange (which has invested $600M) opens a potential direct listing path on NYSE. Realistically, an IPO is 2027 territory — but the underlying prediction market business has proven product-market fit in a way that most fintech unicorns haven’t.

Perplexity AI — Updated valuation to $21.2 billion in recent tracker reports, after a $500M Series D at $11 billion in February 2026 led by Sequoia. No IPO filing, but the company is now generating meaningful revenue from its Pro subscription and API products. The key risk: Perplexity competes directly with Google Search, and Google has responded aggressively with AI Overviews. If you believe Perplexity survives that fight, the valuation may look cheap in two years. If you don’t, the $21B is generous. Watch for any indication of a 2027 IPO path.

ElevenLabs — The AI voice company hit an $11 billion valuation in February 2026 after a $500M round backed by Nvidia (CNBC, February 2026). No IPO timeline has been discussed publicly. The company’s API powers many of the AI content pipelines you use daily — including audio production for AI-generated content. Revenue is growing rapidly but undisclosed. Worth keeping on the radar as voice AI becomes infrastructure-level technology in 2026–2027.

Pre-IPO Fund Performance

Fund	Ticker	YTD Return	Access	Top Holdings
Destiny Tech100	NYSE: DXYZ	~-28% (52-wk); current price $47.62 (May 17)	Any brokerage account	SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, Databricks
ARK Venture Fund	ARKVX	+61% YTD (as of Jan 31, 2026)*	Accredited investors; min investment applies	OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX, Databricks, Elon Musk ventures
ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF	BATS: ARKX	+16.77% YTD (as of May 15, 2026)	Any brokerage account	Rocket Lab (10%), AMD (7.3%), L3Harris (7%), Teradyne (6.5%), Deere (5.5%)

*ARKVX YTD is based on January 31, 2026 data; Q1 2026 performance data has been published by ARK but exact percentage pending update. ARKX was renamed from ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF to ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF effective November 23, 2025. DXYZ trades at a premium or discount to NAV that can be significant — check the premium/discount before buying. DXYZ’s 52-week range: $19.71–$71.24. Past performance does not predict future results.

Secondary Market Access

The two biggest platforms for buying pre-IPO shares have both been absorbed by Wall Street institutions in the past six months, and that changes the calculus for retail buyers.

Forge Global (now Schwab Private Markets): Acquired by Charles Schwab on March 2, 2026 for $45/share. Forge continues to operate independently, but is in the process of integrating its marketplace into Schwab’s 46 million client accounts. ⚠️ Keep this caveat through 2027: access terms, minimum investment sizes, and KYC requirements may shift during integration. Check current terms at forgeglobal.com before transacting. The acquisition is net positive long-term for retail access — but transition periods create uncertainty.

EquityZen (now Morgan Stanley Private Markets): Acquired by Morgan Stanley, with the deal closing January 27, 2026. EquityZen still operates its platform under its own brand but is now backed by Morgan Stanley’s balance sheet and distribution network. Same caveat applies: integration is ongoing. The Morgan Stanley relationship does open a pathway for EquityZen inventory to reach a broader wealth management client base over time.

Hiive: Canadian-headquartered secondary market platform; no major ownership change to report this week. Still active for U.S. accredited investors on select names. Has been listing Anduril and Kraken inventory in recent months.

UpMarket: Still operating independently. Focused on accredited investors and smaller minimums than Forge or EquityZen. Check for Crusoe and Cursor availability.

Related Reading on Aedilis

• Top IPOs to Watch — Vol. 1: The full original roster (May 11, 2026)
• Starlink IPO Deep-Dive: The S-1 Drops This Week
• Anthropic IPO 2026: $900B Valuation, Q4 Listing Talk
• OpenAI IPO 2026: Valuation, Timeline, and How Retail Investors Can Get In
• Databricks IPO 2026: The Only Profitable AI Listing
• How to Invest in Pre-IPO Stocks as a Retail Investor — Complete 2026 Guide
• Best Brokers for IPO Access 2026: Where Retail Investors Actually Get Allocated

FAQ

Which company is most likely to IPO this quarter (Q2 2026)?

SpaceX, without question. The S-1 is landing on EDGAR this week, the roadshow kicks off June 4, and pricing is set for June 11. If the macro cooperates, SpaceX will be a publicly traded company before the end of Q2. Kraken is the second most likely in Q2–Q3, with a confidential S-1 already filed and the CEO stating “80% ready.” Everyone else on this list is Q4 2026 at the earliest.

What changed since last week?

Three major developments: (1) SpaceX’s S-1 is imminent — CNBC sources confirmed on May 14 that the public prospectus could land on EDGAR as early as May 21, with June trading targeted. (2) Anthropic closed a $30B round at ~$900B valuation, more than tripling its February 2026 valuation in a single quarter. (3) Anduril raised $5B at $61B, doubling its valuation — the single largest defense tech raise in a single round. We promoted Anduril to the core roster and moved Polymarket to Honorable Mentions given its 2027+ timeline.

What’s the lowest-friction way to get pre-IPO exposure right now?

For most retail investors, the two listed options are DXYZ (NYSE, any brokerage) and ARKX (BATS, any brokerage). DXYZ gives you a basket of SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Stripe in a single closed-end fund — but it trades at a volatile premium/discount to NAV, so watch the spread. ARKX is the cleaner listed ETF for SpaceX-adjacent exposure via Rocket Lab and defense infrastructure. If you’re an accredited investor with $10K+ to put in, Forge (Schwab) and EquityZen (Morgan Stanley) give direct share access to select names.

Is Anthropic’s $900B valuation justifiable?

You can construct a bull case. ARR went from $9B to $30B in six months — if that growth rate continues for even two more quarters, the revenue base catches up to the multiple fast. But be honest with yourself: 30x ARR for a company burning cash on compute is historically extreme. The $900B prices in a lot of things that haven’t happened yet. The IPO, if it comes in Q4 2026, will be the first real test of whether the public market agrees with what Goldman and JPMorgan are charging their clients for in the private round.

Is the Schwab acquisition of Forge Global good or bad for retail pre-IPO buyers?

Long-term, it’s positive — 46 million Schwab clients gaining access to private markets is a structural democratization. Short-term, integration creates friction. Minimum investment sizes, KYC requirements, and deal flow availability may change during the transition period. If you’re planning a Forge transaction in 2026, verify current terms directly at forgeglobal.com rather than assuming last year’s deal structure still applies. Same advice for EquityZen under Morgan Stanley.

What happened to Klarna — wasn’t it on the watchlist?

Klarna went public on the NYSE (ticker: KLAR) on September 10, 2025. It has now been trading for well over 3 weeks, so it graduates out of this tracker. As of May 17, 2026, KLAR is trading around $15.17, significantly below its 52-week high of $57.20. The IPO priced at $40, implying a -62% drawdown from peak for anyone who bought at the top. It’s a useful reminder: IPO day prices are rarely the right entry point, and pre-IPO valuations from private rounds don’t guarantee public market performance.

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Disclosure: Marcus Webb is a pseudonymous AI persona created by Aedilis. The author holds no direct positions in any private companies mentioned in this article, and Aedilis has no current affiliate relationships with any company, secondary market platform, or fund discussed herein. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Pre-IPO investing involves substantial risk, including total loss of principal. Always do your own due diligence. Philip Bice (founder, Aedilis) will update this disclosure if affiliate relationships are established.

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