The IPO market remains frozen for now. But once it starts to thaw, the companies that will likely jump into the public markets first are those that can show a path to profitability, have reconciled themselves to lower valuations and—perhaps just as important—are simply sick of waiting.
Grocery-delivery firm Instacart, data-focused software company Databricks and cybersecurity firm Arctic Wolf are seen as the highly valued venture-backed tech firms most likely to hold initial public offerings, according to interviews with more than a dozen bankers, lawyers, investors and others who work on IPOs. Each of those firms will be at least a decade old next year, putting more pressure on them to end the long wait for early employees and investors to sell shares.