Why FPOs Are Taking the Wind Out of Tech IPOs 

It used to be that technology company initial public offerings (IPOs), were as exciting and potentially enriching an event as the markets had to offer, as investors fought to get in on the ground floor of a hot startup. Now there’s a different ground floor: the final private offering, or what some in technology circles are calling an FPO. These late-stage venture capital funding rounds are attracting increased interest from a wide range of other big investors. The demand comes as startups stay private longer, making an FPO a way to buy a stake in a more mature company before those companies enter public markets.

Like IPOs, FPOs also raise money by issuing new stock, but they do so on the private market. In addition to gaining the money companies need to fuel their growth, these private deals can also let insiders and other early investors sell some of their existing shares. (Confusingly, FPO is also an acronym for follow-on public offerings, a new issue of stock from a company that’s already held an IPO.)