Similar to the short-lived direct listing wave, the idea of staying private indefinitely will likely only apply to a handful of elite, capital-rich companies like SpaceX. The vast majority of successful startups will still follow the traditional IPO path to provide liquidity and access public markets.

The SPAC structure, which allows early investors to redeem shares before a merger, creates high uncertainty. Because of this risk, any company strong enough for a traditional IPO will choose that route. By definition, this leaves SPACs with a pool of weaker companies that cannot go public otherwise.

The traditional IPO exit is being replaced by a perpetual secondary market for elite private companies. This new paradigm provides liquidity for investors and employees without the high costs and regulatory burdens of going public. This shift fundamentally alters the venture capital lifecycle, enabling longer private holding periods.

VCs are actively deploying capital in anticipation of the IPO window reopening in 2026. Driven by pressure from their own LPs to return capital, they cannot afford to be on the sidelines and are ensuring their portfolio companies are funded and ready to go public.

Joby's business is extremely capital-intensive because they are vertically integrated 'down' to manufacturing components and 'up' to the customer-facing software. They strategically chose to go public early to secure the massive capital required to fund this full-stack approach, which includes commercial partnerships with Uber and Delta.

For late-stage startups, securing a pre-IPO round led by a premier public market investor like Fidelity is a strategic move. It provides more than capital; it offers a crucial stamp of approval that builds significant confidence and credibility with Wall Street ahead of an IPO.

Fusion reactors on Earth require massive, expensive vacuum chambers. Zephyr Fusion's core insight is to build its reactor in space, leveraging the perfect vacuum that already exists for free. This first-principles approach sidesteps a primary engineering and cost hurdle, potentially making fusion a more commercially viable energy source.

Companies pursuing revolutionary technologies like autonomous driving (Waymo) or VR (Reality Labs) must endure over a decade of massive capital burn before profitability. This affirms venture capital's core role in funding these long-term, high-risk, high-reward endeavors.

The INVEST Act mandates a free test allowing non-accredited investors (95% of the US) to participate in venture capital. This shifts the barrier to entry from personal wealth to demonstrated financial knowledge, potentially unlocking a massive new pool of capital for startups from everyday professionals.