Two years ago, the JOBS Act became law. Title I of the JOBS Act significantly changed the IPO playbook, creating a new category of issuer called an emerging growth company (EGC) and rewriting the rules for EGC IPOs. We discuss the JOBS Act’s changes to the IPO process in this post. 

Building on our first-anniversary JOBS Act report on initial trends observed and lessons learned, Latham has conducted another detailed analysis of EGC IPOs, this time taking a close look at nearly 250 EGCs that priced a US IPO in the past year.

Here are 8 market trends we identify in our report:

1. The trends we identified in the EGC IPO market one year ago have generally remained the same.
2. EGCs span many industries, with pharmaceutical companies representing the largest group of EGC IPO issuers.
3. Confidential review by the SEC Staff has become nearly universal.
4. Many EGCs are taking advantage of scaled financial disclosure.
5. The extended phase-in of the internal controls audit remains popular.
6. Testing the waters has gained momentum.
7. Practices related to research reports remain largely unchanged.
8. Foreign private issuer interest in the US IPO market has increased.