IPOs in 2015: A Watch List

Several IPOs broke records this year, setting a trend that's expected to continue for upcoming IPOs in 2015.

IPOs in 2015On June 26, 2014, GoPro Inc. (Nasdaq: GPRO) went public, earning 31% gains the day of its debut. Making history, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) starting trading Sept. 19. The company exceeded its $20 billion expectation, raising over $25 billion and making it the largest IPO in U.S. history.

As for the IPOs of 2015, more than 120 companies are slated to go public. They are seeking profits in excess of $80 billion.

Here's a watch list we'll update as the year goes on...

IPOs in 2015: 7 Companies to Watch

1. PayPal Inc. - PayPal is a U.S.-based e-commerce business that allows consumers to make money transfers online. On Sept. 30, the auction site eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) said its plans to turn its PayPal division into a spin-off company in 2015. Its decision to do so follows increased pressure from investors seeking to profit this offshoot company. EBay announced that the new company will go public in 2015 as well.

2. Orascom Construction Ltd. - Orascom Construction is an Egypt-based construction and fertilizer company. Chief Executive Officer Nassef Sawiris announced on Nov. 6 that the company will go public in February 2015. Orascom Construction Ltd. is a subsidiary of Orascom Telecom, a company that went public July 11, 2014, and raised a total of $320 million, making it the largest equity offering in Egyptian history.

3. Aqua Metals Inc. - Aqua Metals Inc. recycles lead-acid batteries in a process more cost-efficient than smelting. The company announced on Nov. 10 that it closed a private placement of $6 million in convertible notes. It intends to use the proceeds for technology development and intellectual property portfolio strengthening. Aqua Metals expects to hold an IPO in 2015.

4. Hortonworks Inc. - Hortonworks is an American business computer software firm valued at $1.8 billion. It focuses on developing and supporting Apache Hadoop, a framework used to distribute the processing of large data sets across a number of computers. Today, many large U.S. firms are producing more data than they can manage. Thanks to a large marketing push by Hortonworks, Hadoop is catching on as a relatively inexpensive way to store information for future uses. Hortonworks announced Nov. 10 that it filed for a 2015 initial public offering.

5. Acquia Inc. - Acquia develops products, services, and technical support for one of the most popular content management systems available: Drupal. As of May, 2014, Acquia has raised over $50 million to finance its own expansion. CEO Tom Erickson revealed that it will look to go public sometime in 2015.

6. Adama Agricultural Solutions - Adama manufactures agricultural chemicals and crop protection products; it also produces insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides. An announcement was made on Nov 10 that Adama plans a New York Stock Exchange IPO for the first half of 2015. The company hopes to raise between $376 million to $423 million, which will be used to acquire Chinese companies from its parent company ChemChina.

7. Yodle Inc. - Yodle is an American firm that provides online marketing solutions to local and multi-location businesses. It originally planned to go public in July 2014, but decided to postpone its IPO due to volatile market conditions. An anonymous source informed Bloomberg  that the company plans to increase private financing - approximately $30 million - before going public. However, this news has not been made official.

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