U.S. venture-backed technology companies have raised nearly $90 billion in domestic public offerings in 2026, the second-highest annual tally on record, according to Crunchbase data. However, SpaceX alone accounted for 83% of that total, while AI infrastructure company Cerebras Systems captured another 6%. Just 21 other venture-backed tech companies went public on major exchanges, collectively raising less than $10 billion.

Enterprise software, historically a staple of venture-backed IPOs, was essentially absent this year. Energy, defense, and space tech dominated instead. About a quarter of offerings came from the energy sector, led by geothermal provider Fervo Energy and nuclear startups X-energy, Hadron Energy, and Standard Nuclear. Other notable debuts included quantum computing firm Quantinuum, equipment rental platform Equipment Share, satellite intelligence provider Hawk Eye 360, spacecraft developer York Space Systems, and e-bike platform Lime.

The SaaS drought reflects AI's disruptive impact, as VCs fund AI-first platforms and existing unicorns delay IPOs to integrate AI. Investment returns are increasingly concentrated, with potential giant offerings from Anthropic and OpenAI dominating the pipeline while enterprise SaaS offerings remain sidelined.