ANALYSIS: Covid-19 Bear Market Biting Unicorns and Other IPOs

The first quarter of 2020 began somewhat slowly for initial public offerings. January saw a modest number of companies go public, then many more in February. The pace slowed in late February but continued until March 11, the day the World Health Organization declared that the spread of the novel coronavirus had officially become a world pandemic. The IPO market stalled completely. After Boston-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company IMARA Inc. began trading on March 11, not a single company went public on U.S. exchanges for the remainder of the month.

Crystal Balls Shattered; IPO Market in Pieces

So much for everyone’s ...