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Top IPOs to Watch — Vol. 3: SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic + 7 More — May 2026

📊 Key Takeaways — Week of May 25, 2026

  • SpaceX S-1 filed May 20 — the largest IPO in history targets a June 12 Nasdaq debut under ticker SPCX at a $1.75T+ valuation, with a $75B raise that would shatter Saudi Aramco’s 2019 record
  • OpenAI filed a confidential S-1 ~May 22 — Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading; Q4 2026 target at $852B–$1T valuation; the AI IPO race is now a two-horse sprint against SpaceX
  • Cerebras (CBRS) IPO’d May 14 — the AI chip challenger priced at $185, surged 68% on Day 1, then gave back ground; now trading ~$257. See the Recently Public appendix below.
  • SpaceX acquired xAI in February and struck a $60B option on Cursor in April — both deals mean exposure to Grok, xAI infrastructure, and AI coding tooling now flows through the SpaceX IPO
  • Kraken’s valuation fell from $20B to $13.3B and the IPO remains paused — weakest near-term conviction name in this roster
  • DXYZ is down 3.89% YTD while ARKVX (+8.43%) and ARKX (+10.39%) are outperforming — the fund scoreboard is shifting

The Roster — Week of May 25, 2026

Updated every Monday at 8:30 AM ET. Series tagline: the weekly pre-IPO tracker for retail investors who want to understand the landscape before the S-1 drops.

Company Private Valuation IPO Status Heat
SpaceX / Starlink $1.75T–$2T S-1 Filed May 20 · June 12 target 🔥🔥🔥
OpenAI $852B–$1T Confidential S-1 filed ~May 22 🔥🔥🔥
Anthropic $380B No S-1 · ~Oct 2026 rumored 🔥🔥🔥
Cursor (Anysphere) $50B (fundraising) SpaceX $60B option · IPO path murky 🔥🔥🔥
Databricks $134B No S-1 · H2 2026 possible 🔥🔥
Stripe $159B No S-1 · No confirmed timeline 🔥🔥
Crusoe $30B–$40B Pre-IPO round in progress 🔥🔥
Polymarket $15B No S-1 · 1–3 yrs from listing 🔥🔥
Kraken $13.3B Confidential S-1 · IPO paused 🔥

1. SpaceX / Starlink — The Biggest IPO in History Is Now a June Date

This is not a drill. SpaceX filed its public S-1 registration statement with the SEC on May 20, 2026. The roadshow begins the week of June 8. Pricing is expected June 11. If nothing derails it, SpaceX begins trading on the Nasdaq under ticker SPCX on June 12.

What changed this week: The S-1 became public on May 20, revealing the most complete financial picture of SpaceX we’ve ever seen. Starlink generated $11.39 billion in revenue in 2025 — 61% of SpaceX’s total — and reached 69% of total revenue in Q1 2026. Starlink was the only profitable division, delivering $4.42 billion in operating income. The company is seeking to raise approximately $75 billion at a valuation of $1.75 trillion to $2 trillion, which would make it the largest IPO in history by both dollars raised and valuation, eclipsing Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion raised at $1.7 trillion in 2019 (per Bloomberg and Reuters). The S-1 also disclosed $6.4 billion in losses tied to the xAI subsidiary acquisition, which SpaceX absorbed in an all-stock deal in February 2026 valuing xAI at $250 billion.

Valuation: $1.75T–$2T target range. This is more than the combined GDP of Australia and the Netherlands. For context, the second-most valuable S&P 500 company is currently worth less than half of SpaceX’s low-end target. The xAI acquisition also means the Grok AI platform, xAI’s infrastructure, and plans for Mars logistics are now all baked into the SPCX prospectus.

Pros:

  • Starlink is a cash machine — $4.42B in operating income from a business that effectively has no terrestrial infrastructure competitors at scale
  • The $60B acquisition option on Cursor (announced April 2026) signals SpaceX is building a full AI software stack, not just rockets and satellites
  • SPCX will likely qualify for S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 inclusion within months, creating forced institutional buying
  • The rocket and government contract business provides a defense-spending floor that is not correlated to advertising or consumer cycles

Cons:

  • $6.4 billion in xAI losses are now on the SpaceX balance sheet — and xAI has yet to demonstrate a revenue model competitive with OpenAI or Anthropic
  • At $1.75T, SpaceX is pricing itself as one of the five most valuable companies on Earth before it earns a single day of public-market scrutiny
  • Elon Musk’s attention is split across SpaceX, Tesla, DOGE, and multiple AI projects — key-person risk is real and unprecedented at this scale
  • Roadshow timeline assumes SEC review stays on track. Any delay pushes the listing into summer volatility season

Retail action: You cannot buy SPCX yet. Accredited investors can access shares through Nasdaq Private Market and EquityZen at elevated secondary valuations. If you are not accredited, DXYZ (Destiny Tech100, NYSE) holds SpaceX as its largest position at roughly 16.2% of net assets. Once SPCX lists, it will be available on any standard brokerage — request IPO allocation through Robinhood, Fidelity, or your broker’s IPO center, but expect institutional demand to crowd out retail.


2. OpenAI — First AI Lab to File; The Race for the Trillion-Dollar Debut

OpenAI confidentially filed its S-1 with the SEC around May 22, 2026. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are lead underwriters. The company is targeting a public listing as early as Q4 2026 — possibly September — at a valuation of $852 billion to $1 trillion. This is the first pure-play frontier AI lab to formally move toward a public listing, and it opens the AI IPO horse race just as SpaceX is about to close the chapter on the decade’s single biggest tech offering.

What changed this week: The confidential filing was confirmed by multiple sources including CNBC on May 20, 2026. CEO Sam Altman separately told employees at an all-hands meeting that filing and being “ready to go public” are two different things — a deliberate attempt to set expectations without moving the timeline. CFO Sarah Friar had previously confirmed that annualized revenue exited 2025 above $20 billion. OpenAI’s Q1 2026 results show the company losing $1.22 for every $1 in revenue — aggressive infrastructure investment, not a broken model, but a metric that will define investor debate.

Valuation: $852B in most recent private round (2026). At $1T, OpenAI would list at roughly the same valuation as Saudi Aramco, which generates $100B+ in annual profit. OpenAI generates far less but is growing far faster. The bet is on AI compute as the new oil.

Pros:

  • $20B+ in ARR with accelerating enterprise adoption — this is software-company growth at infrastructure-company scale
  • ChatGPT has consumer moat that competitors haven’t cracked; 400M+ weekly active users gives OpenAI a distribution advantage no LLM can buy
  • Goldman and Morgan Stanley as lead banks signals blue-chip institutional backing, not a speculative listing
  • Per Counterpoint Research, OpenAI held 29% global LLM revenue share in Q1 2026 — a very defensible #2 position

Cons:

  • $1.22 of spending for every $1 of revenue is a real number, not a rounding error. The path to GAAP profitability is long and compute-cost-dependent
  • The corporate restructuring from nonprofit to for-profit capped-profit entity is still playing out legally — structural overhang for institutional buyers
  • Altman himself says the company isn’t ready. If leadership pushes back on Q4 2026, the listing could slide into 2027
  • Strong competition from Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and Meta AI means no pricing monopoly

Retail action: No direct pre-IPO access for non-accredited investors. ARKVX (ARK Venture Fund) holds OpenAI as a position. Accredited investors can find limited secondary market access through EquityZen and Hiive. Once the public S-1 is filed (expected late July / August), watch for the IPO roadshow to open retail-allocation windows on Robinhood and SoFi.


3. Anthropic — #1 in LLM Revenue, $380B Valuation, The Quiet Front-Runner

Anthropic doesn’t make noise. It just posts numbers. The company’s annualized revenue run rate surpassed $30 billion in April 2026 — up from $14 billion in February and $9 billion at year-end 2025. That’s an 80x growth trajectory in under two years. Per Counterpoint Research, Anthropic led global LLM revenue share in Q1 2026 at 31.4%, narrowly ahead of OpenAI at 29%.

What changed this week: No new filing news, but context shifted. With OpenAI’s confidential S-1 now in motion, the Polymarket prediction market for “Will Anthropic or OpenAI IPO first?” moved significantly toward OpenAI. Anthropic is rumored for an ~October 2026 IPO timeline, which would make it a Q4 listing alongside or just after OpenAI. The Series G at $380B closed February 12, 2026, led by GIC and Coatue.

Valuation: $380B post-money on the Series G (February 2026). Claude Code alone reached $2.5 billion in annualized revenue by February 2026, doubling since the start of that year.

Pros:

  • 31.4% global LLM revenue share in Q1 2026 — the largest of any single lab — with enterprise customers spending over $1M/year doubling in under two months
  • $30B ARR run rate with exponential growth is the strongest revenue trajectory of any pre-IPO company in this tracker
  • Constitutional AI and safety research positioning creates a regulatory moat as governments accelerate AI oversight legislation
  • Claude Code and API revenue diversification means Anthropic is less dependent on a single product than ChatGPT-era OpenAI

Cons:

  • At $380B with no S-1 filed, the “IPO premium” investors accept on secondary markets is speculative — any slip in the October timeline punishes early buyers
  • Google and Amazon are both strategic investors with board observation rights and API distribution agreements that could complicate the public offering structure
  • Anthropic has never discussed its profitability publicly — the cost structure at $30B in compute-intensive inference is unknown
  • If OpenAI lists first and performs well, Anthropic may feel pressure to rush. If OpenAI underperforms, Anthropic may face valuation headwinds

Retail action: No direct access. ARKVX holds Anthropic. Secondary market access via EquityZen and Hiive for accredited investors — expect wide bid/ask spreads near the $380B reference. If you hold ARKVX, your Anthropic exposure is indirect but real.


4. Cursor (Anysphere) — The $60B Wildcard With a SpaceX Acquisition Option

The IPO story for Cursor got genuinely complicated in April 2026. SpaceX announced a deal giving it the option to acquire Anysphere (the parent of Cursor) for $60 billion later in 2026 — or pay $10 billion for “the work they’re doing together.” The framing from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk: Cursor’s distribution to expert software engineers plus SpaceX’s Colossus supercomputer equals “the world’s most useful models.” In other words, SpaceX is positioning Cursor as the user interface for its AI compute infrastructure.

What changed this week: The April 21 SpaceX-Cursor deal is the context that reframes Cursor’s independent fundraising round. Anysphere was simultaneously raising $2 billion at a $50 billion valuation from Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital — a round on track to close the week of April 22. These two things can be simultaneously true: Cursor closes the $2B round at $50B and SpaceX has the option to buy the company for $60B. The acquisition option is not an obligation. Cursor remains its own entity with an accelerating business.

Valuation: $50B in the current private round (2026). SpaceX’s option values it at $60B — a 20% premium. Revenue trajectory: $100M ARR in January 2025 → $2B ARR in April 2026. Internal projection: $6B ARR by end of 2026.

Pros:

  • $2B ARR in three years from zero is one of the fastest revenue growth curves in software history
  • The SpaceX acquisition option at $60B effectively sets a floor on the company’s valuation — SpaceX wouldn’t offer $60B for something worth $30B
  • AI coding tools have a near-permanent tailwind: every developer shop that adopts AI coding assistance generates recurring software spend
  • $6B ARR projection for 2026 year-end, if accurate, makes the $50B valuation look like a 8x multiple on forward revenue — cheap by AI company standards

Cons:

  • The SpaceX acquisition option removes the independent IPO pathway. If SpaceX exercises it, retail never gets to own Cursor stock — they own SPCX
  • If SpaceX does not exercise the option, Cursor faces a standalone IPO in a post-SPCX market where comparables are already public at massive valuations
  • GitHub Copilot, Google Gemini Code Assist, and Amazon Q are all enterprise-backed competitors with distribution advantages Cursor cannot match on spend alone
  • Cursor’s revenue is concentrated among professional developers — any AI model quality plateau could commoditize the tool quickly

Retail action: If SpaceX exercises the acquisition option, exposure to Cursor flows through SPCX. If it doesn’t, watch for an independent Cursor IPO filing in late 2026 or 2027. Accredited investors can access Anysphere shares today on EquityZen and NASDAQ Private Market. ARKVX may hold a position — check the latest fund holdings update.


5. Databricks — The Profitable AI Company Nobody Talks About Enough

Databricks is the least sexy company in this tracker and possibly the strongest fundamentals story. $5.4 billion in annualized revenue growing 65% year-over-year. Positive free cash flow. Both the AI products and Data Warehousing divisions each exceeded $1 billion in run rate. No S-1 filed, but analyst consensus is shifting toward an H2 2026 listing window as a realistic target.

What changed this week: No major news. Databricks executed quietly, which is exactly the kind of business that can deliver a stable, non-volatile IPO in a market where SpaceX and OpenAI are sucking up all the oxygen. CEO Ali Ghodsi told CNBC the company will go public “when the time is right.” The recent $5 billion Series L at $134 billion (December 2025) plus $1.8 billion in new debt led by JPMorgan gives the company no liquidity pressure to rush.

Valuation: $134 billion (December 2025 Series L).

Pros:

  • The only company in this entire tracker that is demonstrably free cash flow positive at this scale — Databricks makes money
  • The Lakebase and Genie AI product lines are adding acceleration to an already fast-growing core data platform — not a pivot, an extension
  • Enterprise data infrastructure is sticky: once a company’s data lakehouse is on Databricks, switching costs are measured in years, not quarters
  • $7B+ raised in equity and debt gives Databricks the runway to list on its own timeline, not a liquidity-driven one

Cons:

  • Snowflake, Google BigQuery, and Microsoft Fabric all compete in the same space with deep enterprise relationships and aggressive pricing
  • A $134B valuation on $5.4B ARR is a 25x revenue multiple — reasonable for this growth rate, but leaves little room for execution slippage
  • No S-1, no IPO date, no roadshow signal — the H2 2026 window is analyst projection, not company guidance
  • Open-source commoditization of core Spark and Delta Lake functionality creates pricing pressure on the base platform

Retail action: No direct access for non-accredited investors. ARKVX holds a Databricks position. Accredited investors: Forge (now via Charles Schwab’s private markets platform), EquityZen, and Hiive all list Databricks as an available secondary. If Databricks files in 2026, it may qualify for IPO allocation through retail brokers — add it to your watchlist now.


6. Stripe — $159B Valuation, No Rush, Possibly Forever Private

Stripe is the company this tracker returns to every week with the same answer: enormous, profitable, and stubbornly uninterested in going public. The February 2026 tender offer at $159 billion — up significantly from prior valuations — confirms the internal floor. Payment volume hit $1.9 trillion. Co-founder John Collison has been clear: no imminent IPO plans.

What changed this week: Nothing. Stripe’s IPO story this week is the same as last week. That’s actually the story: while SpaceX files its S-1 and OpenAI moves confidentially, Stripe is operating a profitable payments infrastructure business with no external pressure to list. The February tender offer gave early employees and investors liquidity. That removes the urgency that normally drives a company to IPO.

Valuation: $159 billion per the February 2026 tender offer. Previous round was $65 billion (2023). This is a $94 billion valuation step-up in three years.

Pros:

  • $1.9 trillion in annual payment volume is a real business moat — the scale of Stripe’s merchant network creates compounding advantages no startup can replicate overnight
  • Profitable and cash-generative — Stripe doesn’t need an IPO for capital and has the luxury of choosing its moment
  • Every new internet business that launches defaults to Stripe for payments infrastructure — the pipeline of future revenue is embedded in global startup formation rates
  • International expansion (Europe, Asia) is early innings relative to North American market penetration

Cons:

  • At $159B with no S-1 and no timeline, Stripe secondary shares carry full time-value uncertainty — you could hold for 5 years and still have no public exit
  • Square/Block, Adyen, Braintree (PayPal), and Checkout.com compete hard at the enterprise layer where Stripe needs to win to justify its valuation at scale
  • Stripe’s fintech-adjacent banking services (business accounts, loans) put it in regulatory crosshairs that traditional payments processors don’t face
  • The Collison brothers’ stated disinterest in public markets is a risk for anyone betting on a near-term listing

Retail action: Secondary access through Forge (now Schwab private markets), EquityZen, and Nasdaq Private Market for accredited investors. ARKVX holds a Stripe position. Non-accredited: no near-term IPO, no access — Stripe is a watch-and-wait story unless the Collison brothers change their minds.


7. Crusoe — The AI Data Center Company Building a Pre-IPO Empire

Crusoe has quietly become one of the most interesting pre-IPO infrastructure plays in the AI stack. The company began as sustainable computing, using stranded natural gas to power GPU compute. It has evolved into a full AI data center developer, with an 11.6 billion dollar financing package to build a 1.2-gigawatt campus in Abilene, Texas — one of the largest GPU clusters in the world.

What changed this week: Crusoe confirmed in March 2026 that it is raising a pre-IPO round targeting a valuation of $30 billion to $40 billion — up from its October 2025 Series E that implied a $10 billion post-money valuation. That is a 3-4x step-up in months. The hire of Michael Gordon as COO and CFO — who led MongoDB’s 2017 IPO — is an explicit IPO preparation signal. Additional $300 million debt financing closed February 20, 2026.

Valuation: $30B–$40B target on the pre-IPO round, per Axios (March 2026). Previous: $10B+ (October 2025).

Pros:

  • Hyperscaler-grade AI compute infrastructure with a sustainable energy differentiation story — the ESG angle is real, not greenwashing
  • $11.6B Abilene campus financing package closes the gap between startup and enterprise infrastructure provider
  • A MongoDB IPO veteran as CFO is as clear a signal of public-market intentions as you can get without a filed S-1
  • The AI compute buildout shows no signs of slowing — Crusoe is positioned inside the inevitable infrastructure spend

Cons:

  • The 3-4x pre-IPO valuation step-up from Series E to pre-IPO round in under six months raises questions about whether the $30-40B number reflects fundamentals or market froth
  • AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and CoreWeave are all competing for the same hyperscale AI compute contracts with deeper pockets and longer customer relationships
  • Energy-dependent infrastructure is vulnerable to commodity price swings and regulatory changes around natural gas use
  • No revenue figures are publicly available — unusual for a company seeking a $30-40B valuation from the market

Retail action: Secondary shares available on EquityZen and Nasdaq Private Market for accredited investors. DXYZ may add a position given its space/AI infrastructure focus — check current holdings. No retail IPO access until an S-1 is filed. This is a 12–18 month story for most retail investors.


8. Polymarket — Prediction Markets Hit $240B Annual Volume, But the IPO Is Years Away

Polymarket is seeking $400 million in new funding at a $15 billion valuation — a 66% step-up from the $9 billion reached in a prior round (per Bloomberg, April 2026). The prediction market platform’s total trading volume hit $51 billion in 2025 and is on pace to reach approximately $240 billion in 2026. NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has already invested $600 million, giving Polymarket a strategic anchor with both capital and regulatory relationships.

What changed this week: No major new developments. The April Bloomberg report on the $15 billion target remains the most recent public data point. Context: Polymarket’s rival Kalshi recently achieved a $22 billion valuation, which is the direct competitive comparison point as Polymarket works to close its latest round.

Valuation: Targeting $15B on the in-progress funding round (April 2026). Up from $9B.

Pros:

  • $240 billion in annual volume (projected 2026) is a financial market scale, not a startup scale — and prediction markets are structurally early in their total addressable market
  • ICE’s $600M investment gives Polymarket regulatory credibility and a potential acquisition pathway by one of the world’s largest exchange operators
  • Political and macro-event prediction markets are impossible to replicate without a user community and liquidity network — Polymarket has both
  • The information quality of Polymarket prices has gained serious academic and financial industry credibility as a forecasting tool

Cons:

  • Prediction markets built on crypto infrastructure face ongoing U.S. regulatory uncertainty — the CFTC’s stance on event contracts is still evolving
  • Kalshi at $22B sets a higher ceiling for Polymarket to justify in an IPO — reaching parity or premium requires either volume leadership or margin differentiation
  • The $15B target makes this the lowest valuation company on this roster — but it is also the furthest from a public listing (1–3 years per most estimates)
  • Crypto market correlation: when Bitcoin drops significantly, prediction market volumes tend to fall — creating revenue cyclicality tied to crypto sentiment

Retail action: No public market access. No accredited secondary market access (Polymarket shares are not listed on Forge or EquityZen as of this writing). If you want prediction market exposure in your portfolio, the ICE parent company (NYSE: ICE) provides indirect exposure given its $600M stake.


9. Kraken — Confidential S-1 Filed, IPO Paused, Valuation Declining

Kraken is the most honest cautionary tale in this tracker right now. The crypto exchange confirmed at the Semafor World Economy Summit on April 14, 2026 that it has confidentially filed an S-1 with the SEC. But it simultaneously paused its public listing plans in March 2026 due to weak crypto market conditions. The result: a company with a confidential filing and no active roadshow timeline, watching its valuation drift from $20 billion to $13.3 billion.

What changed this week: Quiet. No new filing developments. The $800 million raise at $20 billion from Citadel Securities that was announced in late 2025 now looks optimistic given the current $13.3 billion implied market valuation. The Coinbase (COIN) stock price, which serves as the public proxy for crypto exchange valuations, has underperformed broader crypto markets — not a helpful backdrop for Kraken’s listing ambitions.

Valuation: $13.3 billion (April 2026 implied), down from $20 billion peak in late 2025. Raised $800M at $20B from Citadel Securities.

Pros:

  • Kraken has survived multiple crypto winters since 2011 — operational durability is genuinely differentiated from younger crypto exchanges
  • Citadel Securities as an institutional backer provides market-making credibility and a signal that traditional finance views Kraken’s model as legitimate
  • Regulatory compliance positioning (the company has worked to stay ahead of CFTC and SEC requirements) may prove valuable as crypto regulation solidifies
  • If crypto markets recover through 2026, Kraken’s listing window reopens with volume and fee income both recovering

Cons:

  • The $6.7 billion valuation decline from $20B to $13.3B in months is a concrete signal of diminished market confidence, not noise
  • Coinbase (COIN) trades publicly — institutional investors who want crypto exchange exposure already have a liquid alternative and will need a significant discount or differentiation story to buy Kraken on IPO day
  • The IPO “pause” language is concerning — companies that pause for market conditions sometimes never resume. The longer the pause, the harder the restart
  • FTX-era reputational damage to the entire crypto exchange category lingers in institutional risk models

Retail action: Secondary market access through Forge (now Schwab), EquityZen, and Hiive for accredited investors. Given the valuation decline and paused IPO, this is the roster’s lowest-conviction name for near-term retail positioning. Hold your powder for the S-1 to go public.


Honorable Mentions — Wildcards to Watch

Revolut ($75B → $150-200B target): The European fintech giant completed a $75 billion secondary share sale in November 2025. In April 2026, CEO Nikolay Storonsky told investors the company is targeting a valuation of $150 billion to $200 billion for its eventual IPO — but the timeline is approximately two years out. Storonsky has expressed a strong preference for a U.S. listing (Nasdaq), though a dual listing in London is possible. Revolut’s 45+ million customer base and $21B+ in revenue makes it the most substantive fintech pre-IPO story outside the U.S. It’s not a 2026 play, but it belongs on your radar for 2028 planning. Retail access: secondary shares available through Forge and EquityZen for accredited investors.

xAI (now part of SpaceX): xAI raised $20 billion in January 2026 from Nvidia, Cisco, Fidelity, and others at a $230 billion valuation. SpaceX then acquired xAI in an all-stock deal in February 2026 at a $250 billion implied value. xAI is now a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary. There is no standalone xAI IPO coming. If you want exposure to Grok, the Colossus supercomputer, and xAI’s AI research infrastructure, the path is through SPCX when it lists on June 12. Remove xAI from your “standalone IPO” watchlist permanently.


Recently Public — Performance Tracking

Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ: CBRS) — IPO May 14, 2026

The AI chip company pulled off the biggest IPO of 2026 so far. Cerebras priced 30 million shares at $185 on May 13, opened at $350 on May 14, and closed up 68% at $311.07 on its first day. Demand was 20x oversubscribed per Bloomberg. As of May 24, 2026, CBRS is trading around $257 — down 17% from its first-day close but still 39% above the $185 IPO price. This is the standard post-IPO trading pattern: first-day retail euphoria, then institutional profit-taking and price discovery. The $95 billion market cap at the IPO price has since settled to roughly $65-70 billion at current prices.

Cerebras competes directly with Nvidia in the AI accelerator market. Its wafer-scale chip architecture delivers different performance-per-watt trade-offs than Nvidia’s H100/H200 cluster designs. Whether the market ultimately values Cerebras at $65B or $200B depends on customer adoption among the top hyperscalers — a thesis that will play out over 12–24 months. If you missed the IPO allocation, the current pullback to $257 is your entry window — but this is a speculative position, not a value play at this stage.


Pre-IPO Fund Performance — YTD 2026

Fund YTD 2026 Access Top Holdings / Notes
DXYZ (Destiny Tech100) -3.89% NYSE (any brokerage) SpaceX 16.2%, heavy tech concentration. Closed-end, may trade at premium/discount to NAV. Volatile — 16.82% annualized volatility.
ARKVX (ARK Venture Fund) +8.43% Interval fund — min $500, accredited investors via ARK directly Holds OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, Stripe. Actively managed. Low volatility (1.84%). Better risk-adjusted YTD performance than DXYZ.
ARKX (ARK Space ETF) +10.39% NYSE (any brokerage) Public space/defense equities. Top 10 holdings = 64.6% of fund. SpaceX-adjacent companies. Expense ratio 0.75%. Best YTD of the three.

Bottom line on funds: ARKX is the top YTD performer and the most accessible for non-accredited investors. ARKVX offers the best pure pre-IPO exposure to the AI roster but requires accredited status and a $500 minimum. DXYZ has underperformed both alternatives YTD — its NAV premium/discount dynamic and concentration create extra volatility that hasn’t paid off in 2026. If SpaceX SPCX lists on June 12 as expected, DXYZ’s largest holding becomes liquid, which could trigger substantial rebalancing and NAV repricing.


Secondary Market Access — May 2026 Status

Forge Global — Acquired by Charles Schwab on March 2, 2026 in a $660 million cash deal. Forge’s private markets platform now operates under Schwab’s umbrella, accessible through the Schwab account interface. This is a net positive for retail: Schwab’s distribution makes Forge’s private market inventory accessible to Schwab’s 35M+ account holders who qualify as accredited investors. Important caveat, which we’ll carry through 2027: the acquisition closed March 2, 2026 — the platform is still integrating, and access procedures may differ from pre-acquisition Forge.

EquityZen — Active and accessible for accredited investors. Maintains inventory on Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, Stripe, Cursor, Crusoe, and other roster names. The platform requires W-2 or asset qualification for accredited status verification. Minimum investments typically $10,000–$20,000.

Nasdaq Private Market — Primarily serves company-sponsored tender offers and employee liquidity programs. You’ll find SpaceX, Cursor, and Databricks shares available here in company-sanctioned windows. Less flexible than EquityZen for general retail access, but the quality of inventory is higher given company authorization.

Hiive — Active Canadian-origin private markets platform now operating in the U.S. Competitive with EquityZen for individual accredited investors. Worth comparing inventory and fees against EquityZen before committing.


Cross-Links — Aedilis IPO Research Library

Going deeper on any of these names? Aedilis has published full deep-dives on several roster companies:


FAQ — Top IPOs to Watch, May 25, 2026

Which company is most likely to IPO first this month or in June 2026?
SpaceX is the clear front-runner. The S-1 is filed, the roadshow launches June 8, and the target listing date is June 12 on Nasdaq as SPCX. No other company in this tracker has a publicly filed S-1 with a concrete timeline. If anything delays SPCX, the next-closest is OpenAI — but that confidential S-1 puts a Q4 2026 listing at the earliest, barring an accelerated schedule.

What’s the lowest-friction way to get pre-IPO exposure today?
For non-accredited investors: buy ARKX (any brokerage, up 10.39% YTD) for space/AI-adjacent exposure, or buy DXYZ (NYSE) for more direct private company concentration including SpaceX as the top holding. For accredited investors: ARKVX holds a portfolio of this tracker’s top names (OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, Stripe) with lower volatility than DXYZ — open an account directly at ark-funds.com.

What changed since last week?
Three major developments: (1) SpaceX’s S-1 went public on May 20, triggering the official IPO countdown; (2) OpenAI filed its confidential S-1, officially starting the AI IPO race; and (3) Cerebras (CBRS) completed its first full week of trading, settling around $257 after its Day 1 68% surge. The big structural update: xAI has been absorbed into SpaceX as of February 2026 — there is no standalone xAI IPO. xAI exposure now flows through SPCX.

Is Cursor still a standalone IPO opportunity now that SpaceX has a $60B acquisition option?
It depends on whether SpaceX exercises the option. Cursor’s own $2B fundraising round at $50B is reportedly closing — suggesting Cursor continues as an independent entity for now. The SpaceX option is exactly that: an option. It gives SpaceX the right, not the obligation, to buy Cursor later in 2026. If SpaceX doesn’t exercise it, Cursor remains on track for an eventual independent IPO. If it does, retail investors will need to own SPCX to get Cursor exposure. Watch SpaceX’s post-IPO capital allocation announcements for signals.

Should I worry about Kraken given the valuation decline?
Yes, but contextually. A $6.7B valuation drop from $20B to $13.3B in a few months is real, not noise. However, Kraken has survived every crypto downturn since 2011. The company still has a confidential S-1 filed, has Citadel Securities as a backer, and has a compliance-first approach that may prove more durable than newer crypto platforms. This is a patient investor story — if you want near-term IPO exposure, the nine other names on this list have higher conviction near-term timelines. Kraken’s IPO is a 2027 story at best.

What happens to DXYZ when SpaceX lists?
This is the most interesting mechanical question in the tracker. DXYZ holds SpaceX as roughly 16.2% of net assets at a private market valuation. When SPCX lists publicly, DXYZ will need to mark its SpaceX position to market daily — which could either be significantly up or significantly down from current NAV depending on the IPO pricing. The closed-end fund structure also means that DXYZ may convert its private SpaceX stake to public SPCX shares, and the fund’s discount or premium to NAV may compress significantly as the largest opaque position becomes transparent. Monitor DXYZ closely the week of June 12.


Disclosure: I do not currently hold direct positions in any of the private companies discussed in this article. This tracker is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Pre-IPO investing is highly speculative and illiquid. All valuations referenced are from secondary or private market sources and may differ materially from eventual public offering prices. Past performance of IPOs or funds discussed does not guarantee future results. Always conduct your own due diligence before investing. Aedilis does not currently have affiliate relationships with any of the secondary market platforms or funds mentioned — if that changes, this disclosure will be updated.

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