Posted by Alumni from Crunchbase
June 30, 2026
That's the trend we're seeing for the second quarter of 2026. This period has brought us both the largest venture-backed exit of all time, with SpaceX, and a bevy of other comparatively tinier but still sizable startup exits through acquisition or IPO. For that, of course, we can thank SpaceX, which earlier this month shattered records with a historical debut that culminated in a staggering $2.1 trillion first-day market cap. Its long-awaited offering raised some $75 billion and served as an enormous liquidity event for founder Elon Musk. As for IPOs, Cerebras Systems made a splashy entry in May with an offering that raised at least $5.55 billion. Shares are down from the first-day closing price, but the company still maintains a sizable market cap around $38 billion. Earlier this month, quantum computing company Quantinuum also had a big debut on Nasdaq, raising $1.7 billion and securing an initial market cap of $15.6 billion. Shares are still up sharply from the initial price.... learn more