The IPO market is wrapping up its best quarter in four years. As of September 23, 60 initial public offerings raised a combined $14.6 billion in the third quarter, the most active period since 2021, according to Renaissance Capital.

“IPOs delayed by earlier macro headwinds were revived or even accelerated to take advantage of surging demand for new issues, resulting in a steady pickup through July, a more active than usual August, and more robust deal flow in September,” Renaissance stated in a report.

Of the 60 IPOs, 21 raised at least $100 million each, also a four-year high, “led by a wave of high-profile unicorns,” the report says. “Renewed interest in growth stocks allowed many of these names to price above the midpoint.”

Some of the IPOs, especially the larger ones, were companies with heavy investments from venture capital firms. However, very few of the VC-led companies that went public in the third quarter included hedge funds or their VC arms among their investors.

But there were a few.

One is LB Pharmaceuticals, which went public on September 10, offering 19 million shares at $15 each, the midpoint of the anticipated $14-to-$16 range. The company initially filed plans to sell 16.7 million shares. LB is a clinical-stage biopharmaceuticals company focused on developing therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia.

Hedge fund firm Deep Track Capital held 684,000 shares, or 19.9 percent, before the offering, according to the company’s prospectus. In a 13D filing following the offering, however, Deep Track said it held 2.686 million shares, or 12 percent of the total outstanding.

RA Capital Management, which was not listed as a 5 percent owner in LB Pharmaceuticals’ offering document, disclosed it had acquired 1.675 million shares, or 7.5 percent, per a 13G filing made one week after the IPO.

Shares of LB Pharmaceuticals are up 2.9 percent since the company went public.

Another company that went public in the first quarter that counted at least one hedge fund as a major investor before the offering was ticket reseller StubHub Holdings. On September 16, the company offered 34 million shares at $23.50 apiece, the midpoint of its anticipated range of $22 to $25.

As Institutional Investor reported previously, PointState Capital owned more than 3.1 million shares, or 5.6 percent of the total outstanding, before the public sale, per an updated preliminary prospectus. It was one of five holders of at least 5 percent.

It is not clear if PointState made an early venture capital investment in the company. According to StubHub’s filing, on March 8, 2024, and August 15, 2025, two PointState entities, PointSeason Master Fund III and PointSeason Master Fund IV, purchased 266,666 shares from Nayaab Islam, StubHub’s president and chief product officer. PointState became a 5 percent owner in March 2024 when it acquired 133,333 shares from an unnamed employee through a secondary sale, the filing reveals.

As of Friday’s close, shares of StubHub are down more than 28 percent since the offering.

Meanwhile, earlier in the first quarter, several hedge funds monetized private investments when two biopharma companies — one of which was already publicly traded — completed a merger.

On July 25, Inmagene Biopharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing treatments for immunological and inflammatory diseases, completed a merger with Ikena Oncology, which was already publicly traded. The newly combined company operates under the name ImageneBio.

As part of the merger deal, Inmagene and Ikena did a $75 million private placement with a group of existing and new investors, including Deep Track Capital, Foresite Capital, RTW Investments, and existing Ikena investors such as BVF Partners, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Omega Funds, and OrbiMed.

Some hedge funds had invested in Inmagene when it was private, including Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company) and Kingdon Capital Management. And several had been Ikena investors when the company was private, including Surveyor Capital, Farallon Capital Management, BVF Partners, and HealthCor Management.

In a September 9 regulatory filing, ImageneBio disclosed that as of July 25, Deep Track was a holder of 5 percent or more of the shares, with 878,516 shares or 7.86 percent of the total.