Oura, a wearable technology company, postponed its IPO on Tuesday; the listing timelines for firms such as Anthropic have also shifted. The IPO market had been running hot this year, but an increasing number of cautious signals are starting to emerge.

Market turbulence combined with concerns over artificial intelligence safety is weighing on a batch of high-profile IPO projects that had been highly anticipated this autumn. Oura, a wearable tech company that makes smart rings for health monitoring, postponed its initial public offering due to market uncertainty. Before that, the IPO market had been booming. So far this year, companies have raised a combined US$127 billion through IPOs, a 400% increase compared with 2025. Background: with shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz causing sharp swings in oil prices, investors are deeply worried, and Oura has become yet another high-profile Silicon Valley startup to delay its listing. Recently, Holtec Nuclear and Bamboo Insurance also postponed their IPO plans; AI company Anthropic likewise pushed its IPO back to November. How should we view this wave of successive listing delays? This publication invited Thelis Dimos, a columnist for the "Street Talk" column, to offer his interpretation.

Q&A Transcript

Q: Is a cooling effect now appearing in the IPO market?

The successful listing of one company had once energized the market, leading people to believe the listing window was fully open. But from a broader perspective, the overall market environment is in fact rather lackluster. According to a Renaissance Capital report as of September 24, only 31 IPOs were completed in the United States in the third quarter, and this quarter may become one of the least active third quarters for IPOs since 2014. As Renaissance Capital said in its research note: "The autumn IPO market has already lost some of its vitality."

Q: Which macro indicators can show that the time is ripe to return to the IPO market?

One indicator worth watching is equity fund inflows, especially the flow of funds into growth-style funds. When fund managers have capital on hand that needs to be allocated, IPOs become a fast way to put money to work at attractive pricing. According to Morningstar's "August 2026 U.S. Fund Flows Report," U.S. large-cap growth funds saw only their third monthly net inflow in nearly 15 months in August. It is crucial whether investors will stay in the stock market (which has performed steadily overall this month) or be drawn to rising yields and shift into bond funds instead.

Q: Regarding Anthropic and other companies, what other messages are coming from the current market environment?

Companies can theoretically choose to list at any time, but they may not get the issue price they expect, and that is often the truly decisive factor. Renaissance Capital's third-quarter tracking data shows that about 29% of IPOs ultimately priced below the lower end of their offering range, nearly double the highest single-quarter level of the past four quarters. This is a warning signal for investment banks and their corporate clients. SpaceX's secondary market share price sometimes falling below its IPO issue price has further added to market pressure. On the other hand, for companies in the AI sector, Meta Platforms' share price surging on market optimism about its AI agent Muse serves as a positive reference.