The first quarter of 2016 saw no technology IPOs on U.S. markets, according to a report released last week by research firm Dealogic. The last time this was happened was seven years ago, in the months following the collapse of Lehman Brothers as the Great Recession was getting underway.

22 tech companies filed to go public, but look to be stranded in registration waiting for markets to improve, or to at least stabilize, so they can raise needed capital. If conditions don’t improve soon, then some of these companies likely will forego the public markets and pursue their ambitions for growth by other means. However, for those firms whose investors are demanding a return now, they will have little choice but to groom themselves for acquisition. And given that their likely acquirers are themselves subject to the same market turmoil, that route is far from assured.