So far, just 31 companies have gone public in the U.S. At this time last year, we had 69. Through the first five months of 2014, we had 115. Some factors to consider: 1. The stock market as a whole hasn’t been doing very well. In 2015, the S&P 500 returned 1.2% if you include dividend reinvestment. So far in 2016, we’re at 3.7%. (My prediction in late-December was that the S&P 500 would finish somewhere in the 3%-5% range for the year, given how weak overall economic growth remains.) Companies simply want to get their IPO’s right and go public during a period of strong bullish growth. Very little in 2015 or so far in 2016 has given credence to the idea that the market will be in their general favor. 2. There are other ways to “cash out” outside of an IPO. There are merger and acquisition opportunities available, as well as private equity buyers, who of course may have the same mindset toward value creation in the form of an M&A transaction with a pre-existing portfolio company. 3. Global, macroeconomic events. With the U.S. presidential election and Federal Reserve rate hikes up in the air, there is a lot of uncertainty with respect to how the macroeconomic climate might look even six months from now. 4. Long-term secular downtrend. IPO’s have been in a downtrend ever since peaking in the mid-90’s. With two major recessions in the past fifteen years, the NASDAQ not even averaging 1% CAGR this century, Sarbanes-Oxley, and the overall hassle of compliance and extra expense, the IPO market may never be as hot as it was twenty years ago. With 2016 offering little, and once points two and four above perhaps work themselves out, it may be time to look forward to what the IPO market brings in 2017.