How often filing to go public ends in an IPO

Registrations filed a year or more ago

Of 400 registrations filed at least 365 days ago, 229 (57%) reached a final prospectus, 58 (14%) were withdrawn, 31 (8%) were declared effective with no final prospectus, and 82 (21%) have neither. Those that priced took a median of 83 days from the public filing (middle half: 31 to 134 days).

How a registration is settled

• Priced (final prospectus filed): a Form 424B4 or 424B1 filed under the same SEC file number as the S-1 or F-1.
• Withdrawn (Form RW): a Form RW filed under the same file number.
• Declared effective, no final prospectus: the SEC declared the registration effective (an EFFECT notice) and no final prospectus or withdrawal followed; small self-underwritten offerings often end this way.
• Pending: none of the above yet; the age is counted from the public filing.

The clock starts at the first public filing. Many companies first file confidentially (a draft registration the SEC releases only later), so time to price here is from the public S-1 or F-1, not from the first draft. Each file number is its own registration: a company that withdraws and files again appears twice.

Source: SEC EDGAR full-text search for Forms S-1, F-1 and 424B4, and each company’s SEC filing list, read by a scheduled pass and re-read every three days while a registration is pending. A record of what was filed, not a recommendation. IPO lock-up calendar → · IPO radar →