Tariff-Related IPO Delays Leave VCs ‘Trying to Triage’

With several high-profile IPOs in limbo, the venture capital/startup space is in crisis mode.

As Bloomberg News reported Tuesday (April 8), 2025 was supposed to be a year in which the environment for initial public offerings (IPOs) flourished.

But with President Donald Trump’s new tariffs rocking the global stock market, listings for higher-profile companies such as events ticketing website StubHub, payments FinTech Klarna and crypto platform eToro have been placed on hold. An ongoing pause to IPOs could prevent venture capitalists (VCs) from accessing cash at a crucial moment, the report added.

“A major source of anxiety is going to be around the exit markets and whether or not they are open,” Tomasz Tunguz, founder of Theory Ventures, told Bloomberg. “If we have another two years of no liquidity, it’s going to be really problematic for the asset class.”

The report likened the mood inside Silicon Valley VC firms as the week began to the start of the pandemic five years ago.

Jake Saper, a general partner at Emergence Capital, told the news outlet that one founder told him her company’s customers were feeling “Covid-level fear and uncertainty.”

According to the report, investors say tariffs are likely to affect startups dealing with hardware and international trade, such as eCommerce businesses, while AI companies could face higher computing costs.

“We are trying to triage and figure out which ones will have the most pain early on,” Saper said of his companies.

PYMNTS explored the impact of the tariffs on the FinTech funding world earlier this week in a conversation with Amias Gerety, partner at QED Investors. He said the current conditions make it tough for businesses to make long-range commitments.

“Financial services need certainty,” Gerety said during an interview for the PYMNTS Washington Weekly series. “If you’re planning for 10 or 14 years, uncertainty is devastating.”

But in spite of this upheaval, Gerety, a former Treasury official for the Obama White House, could see one possible silver lining. As he and PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster noted, the tariff crisis is a self-inflicted one, and could — in theory — be quickly reversed.

Less swift will be reestablishing America’s global trust and long-term economic positioning.  If the tariffs suddenly vanished, Gerety warned, the U.S. has nonetheless already demonstrated unpredictability, leading global partners to rethink alliances and investment strategies.

“Even if tariffs were to evaporate tomorrow,” he noted, “it would still change economic arrangements worldwide. Europeans, South Asians and Latin Americans are already reconsidering their investments, pushing closer to competitors like China.”