[author: Carlos Juarez]

More companies continue to raise large sums of capital through late-stage or pre-IPO private placements as they prepare, or in some cases delay, going public. Tech companies are among the most highly-valued of these private companies. A recent study by CB Insights looked at the capital raised by tech companies that went public in 2018. It was found that, on average, these companies raised over $103.0 million in pre-IPO funding. This is almost 2.5 times more than capital raised in 2017, in which tech companies raised $41.9 million, on average, before their IPOs. Xiaomi Corporation and Spotify Ltd raised the most capital pre-IPO with $3.4 billion and $2.3 billion of funding secured, respectively. 2019 promises to continue the trend of larger pre-IPO financings, with companies that have raised as much as $16.9 billion poised to go public next year.