| Hi there. It's Crystal Tse with Bloomberg's deals team. In case you haven't noticed, 'tis the season for initial public offerings. Last week, home-sharing giant Airbnb Inc. opened its books for the first time in preparation for an IPO, as did installment loan provider Affirm Inc. They'll join America's largest food delivery company DoorDash Inc. and discount retailer Wish Inc. in a rush to the public markets late this year. That's not all: Video-game giant Roblox Corp.'s IPO paperwork became public on Thursday, the free stock-trading sensation Robinhood Markets Inc. has started shopping around for IPO advisors and reports indicated that Instacart Inc.'s debut could value the eight-year old company at $30 billion when it goes public, likely in early 2021. The latest rush comes on top of what's already been the busiest fourth quarter for IPOs since 1999, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Now, the onslaught of unicorn IPOs will see companies raise billions more. This isn't normal. Early winter is traditionally a calmer period for the capital markets as holiday mulled wine and eggnog slows down deal making. But the coronavirus pandemic dissuaded public offerings in the spring and summer and shortened the so-called IPO window. That meant that 2020's record-breaking year for initial public offerings (so far companies have raised an all-time high of $143 billion on U.S. exchanges) has been largely condensed into the later months. This fall, a spate of enterprise technology startups went public. In a single two-week span in September, seven enterprise tech companies listed their shares in rapid succession. Those included Unity Software Inc., now valued at more than $30 billion, and Snowflake Inc., which quickly reached an eye-popping $70 billion market cap. The coming December rush will feature more consumer-facing technology players. Many of them will be growth-focused internet firms that aren't turning a profit. Or, like Airbnb, have only had brief flirtations with profitability. That so many money-losing companies feel they're ready for Wall Street is thanks in part to investors' growing confidence in companies that were hit hard by Covid-19. That optimism has been helped along by good news about virus vaccine trials. "With any encouraging news around a vaccine, we are seeing a meaningful shift in investors moving from the Covid beneficiaries to playing in the so-called 'reopen trade,'" said Kristin DeClark, co-head of U.S. equity capital markets at Barclays Plc. "There is now more confidence in an economic recovery that is benefiting businesses that don't have a Covid tailwind." As a whole, enterprise tech companies did well as work-from-home mandates surged, while many consumer businesses stumbled. But even consumer companies had their share of big winners. Online shopping and delivery orders have boomed thanks to state-wide lockdowns. That's been a gift to companies like DoorDash. It makes sense for those types of companies to go public while business is at all-time highs. It's not just the big startups that are looking to list their shares. Much of this year's surge in public listings has been driven by special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, which often target smaller, less proven startups. It's been a record year for SPACs, and the trend is still going: Bird Rides Inc., the electric scooter startup, has hired Credit Suisse Group AG to find a SPAC that would take it public, people familiar with the matter have said. And Hims Inc., the online supplement company that started as a men's health platform selling erectile dysfunction medication and hair loss treatment, struck a deal with a blank-check company earlier this year. Sure, there are plenty of risks with SPACs. As there are with money-losing startups. But as public listings show no signs of slowing, investors don't seem to mind. —Crystal Tse | 
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