The ipo market was a heated frenzy this week, with a large number of listings both home and abroad. The ASX welcomed its biggest listing of the year, while the US market saw one of its busiest weeks for ipos on record, headlined by a huge ride-sharing giant making its long-awaited ipo.

New ASX listings

Australia biggest ipo of 2021 landed this week, with property conveyancing business PEXA (ASX: PXA) making its long-discussed listing after many years of discussion. The company, backed by Link Administration (ASX: LNK) and Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA), which hold two-thirds of all shares on issue, raised gross proceeds of over $1 billion at $17.13 per share. 

A brief technical outage for the business on the eve of its debut took the edge off the publicity of the float, which gained just 0.1% on its first day of trading. That was despite a trading update indicating the volume of property transaction settlements had beaten prospectus forecasts by 4%.

Elsewhere, Wilson Asset Managements latest Listed Investment Company (LIC) was launched. WAM Strategic Value (ASX: WAR) is just the second LIC to list on the ASX since COVID-19, and is the eighth company from the Wilson stables.Campervan and motorhome sharing business Camplify (ASX: CHL) leapt onto the boards after raising $11.5 million. Despite a highly oversubscribed ipo, the business with operations in Australia and the UK also upgraded its prospectus forecasts before its debut on the back of a faster-than-expected recovery in the travel segment, only for shares in the company to slide lower. Management now expects between $30-31.5 million in Gross Transaction Value, up from $27.8 million previously, and between $7.3-7.6 million in revenue, versus a forecast of $6.7 million.Junior gold explorer Barton Gold (ASX: BGD) had an underwhelming debut, with the stock sinking around 20% from its ipo price of $0.25 per share. With two projects in South Australia Gawler Craton region, the oldest and largest geological province in the state, Barton plans to kick off initial exploration activity over the coming months. It has earmarked $11.9 million for exploration across the first two years of its operations.Having raised $12 million at $0.30 per share, Australian Rare Earth Metals (ASX: AR3) turned out to be the most successful listing of the week, soaring 83% on Thursday, and extending those gains even further today. The explorer taps into the rare earths theme that has seen Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) steadily climb over the last year. Management expects assay results from its most-recent drilling campaign this quarter.

Rounding out the week, there were six new ASX ipos that hit the board on Friday. 

The pick-of-the-bunch in terms of performance was wholly Australian-owned bookmaker, BlueBet (ASX: BBT), which at one stage was up more than 80%. The company will use proceeds from its $80 million ipo to expand across Australia and into the US, while also further developing its platform.Other names making their debut were copper and precious metals explorers 29 Metals (ASX: 29M) and Lode Resources (ASX: LDR), water treatment technology business Clean TeQ Water (ASX: CNQ), natural gas company Tamboran Resources (ASX: TBN), and Canadian uranium asset explorer NextGen Energy (ASX: NXG).

New US listings

The second-biggest US ipo by a Chinese company took place this week, with ride-hailing business Didi (NYSE: DIDI) completing a successful listing. With its rival Uber (NYSE: UBER) holding a 12% stake in the business, they were ironically one of the biggest beneficiaries, although the stock barely mustered a gain of 1% on debut. Those gains were amplified overnight, however, with the stock climbing 16% on day two. With a listing valuation of more than US$67 billion, the company is well shy of its more-recognised rival, however, it is also significantly larger than Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT).Cyber-security firm SentinelOne (NYSE: S) raised over US$1.2 billion. Backed by Third Point, the hedge fund of billionaire investor Daniel Loeb, shares in the tech business gained 21% in its trading debut, with those gains pared the following day. Offering cloud-computing and internet-of-things solutions, SentinelOne is tapping into an assortment of the biggest investment themes of recent times.There were also sizeable listings from LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ: LZ) and Clear Secure (NYSE: YOU), which raised over US$500 million and US$400m respectively.Lastly, in a roller-coaster debut, iconic doughnut maker Krispy Kreme (NASDAQ: DNUT) made its way onto the radars of investors across the world. Having raised US$500 million during the week, less than the US$640 million it had sought, the stock reversed early losses when it dipped below its US$17 per share price to end approximately 26% higher at US$21 per share.