Startup Trends: 5 private companies signal they could go public by the end of year
2026 has already delivered several major private-to-public transitions. SpaceX made the biggest splash, completing its highly anticipated IPO in June in what became the largest public offering on record.1 Other prominent private companies, including AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems, quantum computing company Quantinuum and geothermal energy developer Fervo Energy, also made their public market debuts during the first half of the year.
Now, with the second half of 2026 underway, investors are watching another group of private companies below. These companies, listed on the Forge marketplace, have taken steps toward a potential public offering through SEC filings. While none of them have set a definitive date to debut on a public listing, the time horizon exists for them to make the move soon, and potentially before the end of the year.
GrubMarket, a foodtech company
San Francisco-based GrubMarket is a food technology and supply chain company that operates a software-enabled platform connecting food suppliers with businesses and consumers.
The company recently took a notable step towards the public market. It was reported in July that GrubMarket confidentially filed paperwork for an IPO.2 The move follows years of expansion in the food supply chain industry and a series of acquisitions that have broadened the private firm’s reach.3
In June, the company announced its latest product innovation, an AI agent that can provide sales quotes for its network of food distributors. Additionally, the agent can do prospect discovery and integrate seamlessly across other enterprise tech stacks, underscoring Grubmarket’s adaptation to the AI-enabled economy.4
Founded in 2014, GrubMarket’s Forge PriceTM is $18.00 as of August 10, 2026, implying a valuation of $3.04 billion. The foodtech company’s investors include Flume Ventures, Battery Ventures, Liberty Street Funds and Pegasus Tech Ventures.
OpenAI, a generative AI company
OpenAI is among the companies exploring a potential high-profile IPO.
The San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT has grown into one of the world’s most valuable private companies, while raising significant amounts of capital to support the compute infrastructure required to develop increasingly advanced AI systems.
In June, the company announced it had submitted a confidential draft filing S-1 to the SEC.5 The news came just weeks after it was reported that the private firm had spoken to multiple bankers like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup for advisement on a potential IPO, further signaling OpenAI’s intent.6
Founded in 2015, OpenAI has secured some notable partnerships recently. In June it was reported that software and technology company IBM will collaborate with OpenAI on frontier AI integration with enterprise security programming.7 This month it was reported that U.K.-based fintech company Revolut would offer the ChatGPT Go product to its retail customers.8
OpenAI’s Forge PriceTM is $721.85 as of August 10, 2026, implying a valuation of $894.33 billion. Its investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Softbank, T. Rowe Price and Thrive Capital.
Anthropic, an AI model company
OpenAI isn’t the only frontier AI company exploring the public market.
San Francisco-based Anthropic, developer of the Claude family of AI models, has also taken steps toward a potential IPO. In June the private company announced that it confidentially submitted an S-1 draft to the SEC.9 The date, number of shares offered or price information was not disclosed.
Founded in 2021, the AI startup was reportedly in discussions to enter a $10 billion partnership with social media company Meta. The deal would allow Meta to lease computing space from Anthropic for at least the next two years.10
The news of the possible deal with Meta follows Anthropic’s May announcement that it was acquiring software company Stainless in an effort to bring useful developer tools into its product suite. The acquisition of Stainless underscores Anthropic’s ambitions to compete aggressively among the many new entrants within the AI sector.11
Anthropic’s price per share is $589.01 as of its latest fundraising round in May of this year, placing its post-money valuation at $965 billion. Its investors include Blackstone, Capital Group, Brookfield and Alpha Wave Global.
Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange firm
This year’s IPO pipeline extends beyond artificial intelligence.
San Francisco-based Kraken is one of the longest-running cryptocurrency exchanges, offering a platform for buying, selling and trading digital assets alongside a growing range of financial products.
Kraken announced in November of 2025 that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the SEC. The submission didn’t establish a date for an IPO, and Kraken said at the time that an offering would take place after the SEC’s review process, and subject to market and other conditions.12
Kraken has been recently expanding its product reach. In July, it was reported that Kraken had launched a debit card offering in the U.K. and Europe. The Mastercard product allows users to spend a range of cryptocurrencies and cash balances.13
Kraken is notable for having some of the highest supply of shares available last quarter on the Forge marketplace. The private company's Forge PriceTM is $29.41 as of August 10, 2026, implying a valuation of $9.57 billion. The cryptocurrency exchange’s investors include Jane Street Capital, Citadel Securities, Soul Capital and Digital Currency Group.
Syntiant, an AI semiconductor company
The final company on the Forge marketplace with the potential to go public this year is technology firm Syntiant.
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Irvine, California, Syntiant develops semiconductor and software technology designed to bring artificial intelligence processing to a variety of enterprise applications. Its product suite spans neural decision processors, AI models, sensors and related hardware and software.
On July 6, 2026, Syntiant filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the SEC for a proposed IPO and subsequently filed an amended registration statement on July 13, signaling the private company’s likely IPO intent.14,15
Syntiant has grown to be a key company within the AI-enabled processing space. It was reported last year that the company had 1,700 employees and had surpassed 100 million deployments of its processing product. Syntiant’s CEO Kurt Busch is reportedly focused on strategic acquisitions as a strong component of its growth model.16
Syntiant’s most recent price per share is $9.60 as of a fundraising round in April of 2026, placing its post-money valuation at $708 million. Its notable investors include Alumni Ventures, Axial Partners, Atlantic Bridge Capital and Intel Capital.
Investor takeaway
The potential IPO lineup for this year includes a range of companies from food supply chain technology and cryptocurrency infrastructure to some of the biggest names in AI.
For investors, the signaling of a firm’s potential future IPO is noteworthy as an IPO represents more than a liquidity event. It can introduce new financial disclosures, public-market price discovery and benchmarks that can influence valuations across an entire market sector.
As the second half of 2026 unfolds, these five companies are among the names investors may see make their public debuts.
