Technology companies are spending less and less time on stock markets, as private equity firms, armed with a record amount of dry powder, move fast to take them private.

The median time from initial public offering to buyout since the financial crisis has narrowed to around six years, according to a new study by data provider PitchBook. At the smaller end — for deals worth $400m to $1.25bn — the time to buyout nearly halved from 12.2 years since 2015. Meanwhile, for companies worth between $1.25bn and $4bn, the median time to being taken private fell from 9.8 years to 6.4 years over the same period.