A Rising Number of Startups Reckon They'll Never Go Public

While high-flying unicorns such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc. are largely expected to enter the public market in the months and years to come, a number of entrepreneurs in attendance at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival last week believe their own companies will remain private “indefinitely," according to a new survey.

Nasdaq Private Market surveyed 126 attendees, of which 32 percent were founders or chief executives, and found that a large portion don't expect the day will come when shares in their startups become publicly traded, potentially bolstering a trend that has seen more companies opting to stay private longer. Nearly half of respondents said they expect their businesses to stay private indefinitely—a 62 percent increase from the year before.