Hopes that the technology IPO market would bounce back this year have bene extinguished by big cash infusions for startups from an ever-expanding group of financiers, led by SoftBank Group Corp and Middle East sovereign wealth funds.

Startups have been enabled to raise more money, stay private longer and spurn the regulatory hassles of an IPO even as they become larger than many public companies by these deep-pocketed financiers, which have traditionally invested in the public markets but are seeking better returns from private tech companies.

Investors such as SoftBank changing the business of startup financing was pointed out by a number of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, IPO experts and dealmakers who interacted with the media at The Wall Street Journal D.Live conference in Southern California. They said this in response to questions about the surprisingly low number of IPOs.

“It’s not surprising if these companies get 10 term sheets,” said Nicole Quinn, an investing partner with Lightspeed Venture Partners, referring to formal offers of investment.

According to the Nasdaq, there has been a 50 percent drop in the number of U.S. public companies over the last two decades as a result of a protracted IPO slump.

In 2014, public market investors, including mutual funds, ramped up investment in private tech companies and IPOs have fallen especially precipitously since then.

Some signs of a more active fall for IPOs are also present in the market. With debuts from ForeScout Technologies Inc and Zscaler Inc ahead, tech companies Switch Inc, MongoDB Inc and Roku Inc have gone public in the past few weeks.

Yet, raising questions about IPO opportunities for 2018, many investors are bracing for a market tumble after a sustained rally.

According to IPO investment adviser Renaissance Capital, compared to 27 for the same time period in 2014, just 12 venture capital-backed tech companies went public in the United States in the first three quarters this year.

But the huge funding rounds had eliminated the traditional reason for an IPO, said Barry Diller, a longtime dealmaker and chairman of InterActiveCorp and Expedia Inc.

“There is no reason to be public unless you need capital, and almost all these companies do not need capital,” Diller said.

SoftBank, which in May closed a $93 billion investment fund, has increasingly been the source of the big checks.

Including a $500 million deal with fintech company Social Finance and a $3 billion investment in shared workspace company WeWork, both private and already worth billions of dollars, it has announced at least 14 investments in technology companies globally so far this year.

As much as $10 billion in Uber shares, most of them from employees and existing investors in a so-called secondary offering, is being planned to be finalized by SoftBank next week which is a highly anticipated deal with the ride hailing company.

“This is the third liquidity option,” said Larry Albukerk, who runs secondary market firm EB Exchange and spoke to Reuters by phone. “It used to be IPO or acquisition.”

Jenny Lee, managing partner at GGV Capital said that SoftBank’s deals are causing venture capitalists to “prepare for more M&A exits,” and fewer IPOs over the long term.

(Adapted from Reuters)