The best and worst IPOs of 2022

With a record 3022 new listings globally in 2021 raising a combined US$601.2 billion, how is Australia's IPO market faring in 2022?

Investors have been dealt a tough blow this year on a number of fronts including COVID-19 lockdowns earlier in the year, post-pandemic recovery, macroeconomic turbulence, geopolitical tensions and red hot inflation.

In tough market conditions, investors have been picky about what companies they welcome onto the stock market in 2022, but it's a miner's world this year as investors welcome new mining companies with open arms.

The global movement toward a greener, more sustainable future paved way for battery metals mineral exploration company Belararox (ASX:BRX) to soar.

Since debuting late in January, Belararox has rocketed 339% as investor appetite for battery metal mining stocks surges. The company attributes its soaring share price to the rising price of zinc however investors may be looking at the 5600km of drilling at the Belara project in NSW as the key to the company's success to date.

Also jumping on the battery bandwagon was Lithium Plus Minerals (AX:LPM). With 19 exploration licenses approved across two areas and three more on the way, LPM is planning an aggressive drilling program targeting a mineral resource estimate by Q1FY23 which has investors impressed as the share price has jumped 180% since the company debuted in April.

More recently, Southern Palladium (ASX:SPD) boarded the IPO train to success-town, with the company's share price up 116% since listing in June. The platinum group minerals miner made a solid entrance onto the ASX, however, it wasn't until late August when SPD announced the commencement of drilling at its 70%-owned Bengwenyama project, that its share price took flight to trade at a high of $1.50.

With the good, comes the bad and ugly. In the current uncertain and inflation-plagued market environment, investor appetite for retail and technology stocks is low, especially for new market debutants whose value proposition doesn't stand out among competitors to benefit the lives of investors.

Beforepay (ASX:B4P) took the risk of jumping into the IPO pool in 2022 and it hasn't paid off. Investors have been steering clear of high-risk fintech shares, especially in the buy now, pay later and alternative payment methods space.

Beforepay offers up to $1200 of your wages in advance with a fixed 5% transaction charge, which would have appealed to investors back in 2020 when BNPL was all the rage, however in such turbulent market conditions, and in an unregulated sector of the finance market, Beforepay's share price has tumbled more than 85% since debut.

In the heart of the pandemic where meal prep delivery kits were all the rage, My Foodie Box would have had the potential to soar, especially during the record IPO year of 2021.

Unfortunately, debuting in 2022 in the post-pandemic, post-lockdown era where new competitors in the meal kit delivery space are constantly popping up, My Foodie Box has struggled to take off into investors' portfolios. The company's share price is now trading more than 70% lower than its listing price at around $0.074.

The overall consensus of the IPO market in 2022 is that investors are doing their research and making informed decisions before investing in market newcomers due to tighter financial pressures through inflation and subsequent interest rate hikes, global economic turbulence and higher demand for meaningful products and services in everyday life.

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