Here are the worst IPOs of 2021

Since the dot-com crash two decades ago, the US market has seen a huge shortage of start-ups. The lack of IPOs undermines the concept of shareholder democracy as ordinary investors become less and less able to own stocks in companies in the most successful or fastest growing sectors. If you think that's excessive, consider that the number of publicly traded companies in the country has fallen dramatically - from 7,300 at the height of the dot-com boom to around 3,600 in 2016, according to Credit Suisse. This unfortunate trend can be traced back to the fact that fewer start-ups are choosing to go public, that young companies remain privately owned for much longer and that more listed companies are returning to private life. Fortunately, however, the tide seems to be turning for the better. After a massive slump that lasted several decades, the IPO market seems to be returning with a bang. Despite the formidable obstacles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 proved to be a major turning point for the IPO market. Last year 471 US companies (including SPACs) went public, a level last reached in 1999 at the height of the dot-com boom. With markets flooded with liquidity, the first quarter of the current quarter set the pace for another record year for US and global IPOs. By the end of March, IPO revenues in the United States were nearly $ 64 billion in the past 12 months, the highest since the dot-com boom. Another encouraging trend: the average return on day one, commonly referred to as "IPO pop", has more than doubled to 38% compared to the longer-term average; H. first-day returns were significantly higher than the average IPO pop from 1980 to 2020 at 18.4%, albeit not quite as high as in the dot-com bubble, in which first-day IPOs averaged more than 60% increased. The current year has seen a number of IPOs, which have lagged significantly behind expectations due to a large number of factors. Here are some of the most notable of them. Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global Inc. (NYSE: DIDI) went public last month and raised $ 4.4 billion in one of the most anticipated IPOs this year. From then on, however, things quickly went downhill after Chinese supervisory authorities took action against Didi for alleged violations of data security. Chinese consumers have become more and more privacy conscious in recent years, and Beijing has taken steps to protect platforms like Didi that process sensitive information like locations. The swift action taken by the Chinese authorities against Didi just a few days after the IPO has made international investors aware of the regulatory balls they can sometimes face, causing Didi shares to plummet by more than 50% since the IPO in June. London-based Deliveroo (OTCPK: DROOF) is this year's IPO disaster because expectations were simply too high. Deliveroo, a food delivery startup, quickly became the darling of the stock markets as Amazon Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) took a huge vote of confidence by buying a 16% stake in the company. However, London's largest IPO since 2011 quickly turned into a total disaster: Deliveroo shares plunged 26% below the market price, leaving the company's initial market capitalization by nearly £ 2 billion ($ 2.8 billion) on its first day of trading. sink. One of Deliveroo's bankers told the Financial Times that it was "the worst IPO in London history". A number of factors have been blamed for the flop, including pricing, timing, uncertain business outlook, the risks gig economy companies face, and concerns about how the company treats its employees. Fortunately, Deliveroo has been able to bounce back from the initial disaster and its shares are currently trading at £ 4.45 which is £ 4.45. H. 14% above the starting price of £ 3.90. According to the London-based company CryptoCompare, Coinbase Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN), the second largest cryptocurrency exchange after Binance by spot trading volume. On April 14, 2021, Coinbase went public in a direct public listing that easily became one of the largest in history after Coinbase was valued at $ 100 billion.