So the best of the best in SaaS and Cloud are still on fire. Canva, Stripe, Databricks, ServiceTitan, Gusto, Wiz should all have epic IPOs in 2025 or maybe 2026.
But one thing is clear: it’s taking longer to IPO:
- It used to take 10.4 years on average to IPO in SaaS. More on that data here.
- The last 3 SaaS IPOs took 11.3 years to IPO (Klaviyo, Rubrik, OneStream)
- And the current top of top performers below? 13.6 years
Now look, who knows. These aren’t the only IPO candidates. And add a few like Wiz, if they IPO quickly, the average may come back down. And if more folks are able to IPO at lower ARR’s, again, it may come back down. We will see.
But at least for now, this is telling. It may take you almost 14 years to pull off a Great IPO in SaaS.
And for VCs, it can take another 3 years to fully distribute and get liquid, after a 6 month lock up. So 17+ years for VCs to liquid on SaaS IPOs.
From VC funds that are designed to last 10-12 years.
