Positive signals for IPOs are increasing worldwide, and transaction activity increased significantly in the first half of 2026. The global capital market is showing its receptiveness even for mega-IPOs. Compared to the previous year, global IPO proceeds tripled in the first half to over 178 billion US dollars.
Many stock market aspirants are currently positioning themselves for the right timing, and the IPO pipeline is well-filled with attractive candidates. Internationally, alongside SpaceX, companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are waiting in line.
The European IPO market also recorded robust development in the first half of the year. In the first half of 2026 alone, proceeds from European IPOs rose by 7.2 billion euros to 10.9 billion euros, an increase of 76% compared to the same period last year. Other promising IPO candidates for the second half of the year could be: Revolut, Bitpanda, TK Elevator, Vinted, ManoMano, and Flix.
In Germany, placement successes of nearly 700 million euros were achieved with just four new issues in the first half of the year. Even after the IPO, the newcomers showed solid to strong price performance, which strengthened confidence in new issues. In addition, companies in the Prime and General Standards were able to place over 2.8 billion euros as a result of capital increases. Even more significantly, many stock market admissions (including IPOs, admissions to trading, secondary listings, shell transactions) were traded very actively in Germany, which supports market breadth for stock listings and indicates strong interest from investors.
It is clear that capital market players are once again ready to invest in growth stories, which is why large and medium-sized candidates want to secure stock market access. In particular, technology-oriented industries such as AI, space exploration, and quantum computing are creating a new dynamic in the current market phase.
It is also striking that more and more growth companies are turning to shell companies and SPACs. For example, Infleqtion, Horizon Quantum, and Xanadu Technologies successfully made their stock market debuts via SPACs in the first quarter. International surveys assume an average of 20 new issues per month for the SPAC market in 2026.
Reiner Ehlerding, Managing Director of INSTANT IPO SE: "With regard to geopolitical efforts, the summer of 2026 could be a good window for stock market candidates to push ahead with their preparations for stock market access. This keeps all options open for executing transactions quickly when the timing is favorable. Companies that place full value on flexibility are increasingly turning to shell companies. It is important to open access to the capital market in good time for companies that want to scale, because access to the stock market expands financing options considerably, with the public market being many times more receptive than the private sector."
Companies with a capital market target should therefore use market dynamics to position themselves early. At the same time, stock market access via shell companies and SPACs is increasingly being requested by companies that are looking for fast and predictable access to the stock market, especially in a volatile market environment, in order to secure all options for optimal timing.
INSTANT IPO SE has the largest platform of publicly traded shell companies in the German-speaking region at www.instant-ipo.de and offers companies professional, structured access to the capital market.