Going Public Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune. Try This IPO Shortcut

Meet the Emerging Growth Company designation — the Obama-era rule that lets startups IPO faster, cheaper, and with far less red tape.

BY MELISSA ANGELL, SENIOR STAFF WRITER @MELISSKAWRITES

Photo-illustration by Inc. Art / Getty Images (money); Adobe Stock (hand)

The U.S. IPO market has a new company problem–especially with smaller players. The number of publicly listed companies peaked at around 8,000 in 1996 and has since fallen by nearly half. While larger companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX are expected to largely anchor this year’s IPOs, companies with less scale have struggled to make headway. One obvious reason? It’s expensive.

Going public can cost millions. To start, there’s underwriting fees, legal expenses and insurance to think about. As one example, Directors and Officers insurance (or D&O insurance) increases dramatically as companies make the jump from private to public.

But something called the Emerging Growth Company designation may offer a way in.

A law known as the The Sarbanes–Oxley Act, passed after Enron’s........

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