Key Takeaways
- Deal activity appears to be picking up as investors ride the AI wave and markets hit record highs, helping 2025 look like a strong year for IPOs and M&A.
- U.S. IPO and M&A volumes in the first half of 2025 have hit the highest levels since 2021, which was itself a record year for deals, according to Dealogic.
- Read on for the prevailing trends in deals this year—and lists of the top IPOs and M&A of 2025 so far.
For a while, it looked like the boom in deal activity that was expected after President Donald Trump retook the White House wouldn’t happen. Companies pulled IPOs as the Liberation Day tariffs hit sentiment, while others put acquisition plans on hold.
Deals, in short, dried up. But that seems to be changing.
Deal activity is picking up for a host of reasons, experts say, among them Trump’s retreat from some of his harsher tariff plans and increasing investor expectations that trade deals will be struck or tariffs at least kept at their baseline levels. Add to that a relatively resilient U.S. economy and record-high stock markets and you get a recipe for rising deal volume.
IPO and M&A volumes are at their highest levels in years, according to Dealogic data, after years when high interest rates put a damper on things. In the first half of 2025, 174 companies raised more than $31 billion from U.S. IPOs, the most since 2021, when a record $200 billion of funds were raised in the same year-to-date period.
U.S. M&A volume so far this year has already topped $989 billion, the highest level since 2021’s record year, when there were $1.56 trillion in deals in the same period.
Investors Regain Taste for IPOs
Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs hit stock markets and led companies like Swedish fintech Klarna to pause plans for IPOs. That’s changing as investors are piling into tech and fintech firms, and investors are eyeing the possibility of interest-rate cuts in the second half that could keep stocks rising.
CoreWeave (CRWV), a cloud computing company backed by Nvidia (NVDA), has since seen its shares more than triple since its March listing. USDC stable coin issuer Circle Internet Group (CRCL) was among June’s IPO stars, benefiting from the increasing popularity of crytocurrencies and bitcoin; Israel-based retail trading platform eToro (ETOR) and space and defense tech firm Voyager Technologies (VOYG) were also among June’s star listings.
Circle and CoreWeave “in particular have been outstanding performers and a big driver of investor interest,” said Dealogic’s Global ECM Head Samuel Kerr said.
The pipeline of new deals is now building up again: In early July, design software maker Figma filed for an IPO.
Here are 2025’s top five US IPOs ranked by funds raised, according to Dealogic.
1. Venture Global
LNG exporter Venture Global (VG) raised $1.75 billion from its January IPO, the most by a listing so far this year in the U.S. and the most since Lineage’s $5.1 billion listing in July last year. Unlike some more recent tech IPOs, its shares have lagged below their listing price.
2. CoreWeave
CoreWeave (CRWV), a cloud computing company backed by Nvidia (NVDA), raised $1.57 billion from its listing on the Nasdaq in March. It had a tepid debut, but has since become one of this year’s stars, trading more than three times above its $40 IPO price.
3. SailPoint
SailPoint, a Texas-based cybersecurity company that private equity firm Thoma Bravo took private in 2022, made its return to public markets in February, raising $1.38 billion from its listing. Its shares continue to lag its $23 IPO price.
4. Circle Internet Group
Crypto firm Circle Internet Group (CRCL) has been one of this year’s IPO stars, raising $1.21 billion from its IPO priced at $31 a share in June; the stablecoin issuer’s stock is now around $189.
5. Chime Financial
The fifth-biggest IPO this year was the $994 million June offer by fintech firm Chime Financial. Its shares remain above their $27 IPO price.
M&A Rides the AI Wave
M&A volumes, which like IPOs took a hit this year, have been helped by enthusiasm for companies linked to artificial intelligence.
“Although March brought a burst of large-cap deals, optimism faded in April after ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs sent shockwaves through the market,” Mergermarket Head Lucinda Guthrie said. “Still, the opportunities presented by the volatility in the public markets drew attention from private capital. A key deal driver in 1H25 has been M&A to fuel the evolving AI landscape. ”
Here are the top M&A deals so far this year in the U.S, according to Dealogic, ranked by deal size, with No. 1, the funding round into ChatGPT maker OpenAI— illustrating the allure of AI investments. (All the deal volumes are excluding debt.)
1. SoftBank, Others Buy OpenAI Stake
The ChatGPT maker raised $40 billion in new funding from a group of investors who took a 13.3% stake in a round led by SoftBank Group. Other investors included its biggest backer, Microsoft (MSFT).
2. Google Offers $32B for Wiz
Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) struck a $32 billion cash deal for cybersecurity startup Wiz in March that would be the tech giant’s largest acquisition ever. The deal hasn’t closed yet.
3. Amrize Gets Spun Out
In June, Swiss building-materials company Holcim spun off its North American operations in a $28.7 billion deal. The Chicago-based cement and roofing provider started trading under the stock symbol (AMRZ).
4. Charter Communications Buys Cox
Charter Communications (CHTR) announced a $24.1 billion deal in May to buy privately held rival Cox Communications in a deal that would combine two of the U.S.’s largest cable providers. The deal has yet to close.
5. Constellation Energy Takes on Calpine
Nuclear power producer Constellation Energy (CEG) agreed to buy private energy company Calpine for $17 billion excluding debt, a transaction that would create the largest clean energy provider in the U.S. The combined company would serve the AI boom, feeding the growing power needs of data centers.