Gregor Feige, UBS Co-Head of Americas Equity Capital Markets, said the next wave of AI-related IPOs will be led by application-layer companies. While chip and infrastructure firms at the base of the stack have moved first, application companies are waiting to gauge market conditions.
AI IPO Market · Equity Capital Markets Outlook
The Next AI IPO Wave Belongs to the Application Layer
Chips and infrastructure went public first. Foundation-model giants are now filing. The apps built on top are waiting — and their debuts will be the market's next focal point.
~$1T
OpenAI's potential listing-scale valuation
~$965B
Anthropic valuation, on ~$47B ARR
~4%
SpaceX's low initial float on its planned listing
The AI Layer Cake — Who Goes Public, When
The stack lists from the bottom up. Column height marks how far each layer has advanced toward the public market.
Base Layer
Chips, data centers, energy — Nvidia already listed
Model Layer
OpenAI, Anthropic — confidential S-1 filings
Application Layer
Apps, agents, verticals — the next wave
On the Runway
Anthropic
Confidential filing ~June 2026
~$965B · ~$47B ARR
OpenAI
Filing in same period
$1T-scale potential
SpaceX
Preparing a large listing
~4% float
Canva
Reported 2027 IPO plan
AI acquisition track record
Perplexity
Possible 2028 IPO
—
Why value is shifting up the stack
Flexibility to switch models, avoiding vendor lock-in
Control over proprietary data and IP
Agents win on context, domain knowledge and integration
Feedback-driven loops beat simple LLM wrappers
Why the apps are still waiting
Mega AI deals overshadow software offerings
Weak post-IPO showings from Figma and Navan
Firms gauging market conditions before listing
Demand said to be back at 2021 levels amid thin supply
"The chip companies and the base layers of the layer cake of AI have been the first to go public. Many of the application layers are waiting and going to be part of the next wave ."
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