When a privately held company offers shares to the public for the first time through Initial Public Offering (IPO), the act of becoming an IPO is called ‘going public.'
Points to remember:
Going Public allows even small companies to operate without the help of any credit.
It is a way of generating money without having to repay the investors, but of course, this is not how it should be perceived as by the owners of the company.
Going public requires companies to meet certain conditions depending on their country. For example, in India - a company must be generating a profit for at least 3 years before going public.