Last year was certainly a strong one for initial public offerings (IPOs), as cash-hungry young companies were able to cash in on the hopes of investors for a big score.
A total of $249 billion was raised in IPOs by 1,205 companies worldwide, according to Thomson Reuters data cited by
The New York Times. In the United States 293 companies raised $96 billion, according to Dealogic, the highest figures since the dot-com boom of 2000.
The biggest IPO came from China's retail Internet goliath Alibaba Group in September. That $25 billion deal was the largest in history.
Relative to 2013, approximately 40 percent more companies went public in 2014 while raising nearly 36 percent more money, excluding Alibaba.
According to research firm CB Insights, 192 of the top tech startups the firm tracks raised $12.9 billion in 2014. In 2013, a similar set of companies raised $5 billion.
"We had high hopes for 2014 and we weren't disappointed," Paul Donahue, co-head of equity capital markets for the Americas at Morgan Stanley, tells The Times.
Activity was especially heavy in the technology and financial sectors, which together accounted for more than a third of the IPOs, the paper reports.
Many market participants anticipate the strength will continue. "The backlog of deals is strong, and we expect more of the same in 2015, assuming no macro or geopolitical surprises," John Daly, head of Americas equity capital markets for Goldman Sachs, tells The Times.
To be sure, some IPO experts question whether the boom has turned into a bubble, just like in 1999 to 2000.
Marc Andreessen, the legendary co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, clearly is concerned about the tech sector, though he sees a contrast to the last bubble.
"This is the weirdest equity bubble ever, ignores the large cap companies that are easy to trade — not what happened in late 90s," he tweeted in April, the
Silicon Valley Business Journal reports.
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