15 Tech IPOs in 2015 to Keep on Your Radar

tech iposTech IPOs in 2015: Wall Street is coming off a great year of initial public offerings. In fact, 2014 saw more IPOs than any year since the height of the dot-com era in 2000.

Renaissance Capital, a manager of IPO-focused ETFs, reported 275 stock launches last year. That's a 23% increase from 2013. Last year's record number of IPOs also lent a huge hand 2014's bull market.

"While various global events, such as Russia's incursion into the Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East, caused nervousness in global markets, they largely failed to disrupt the U.S. IPO apple cart," Renaissance Capital experts told Business Insider.

And a major part of that was huge tech IPOs. E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) became the biggest U.S. IPO in history in September 2014. King Digital Entertainment Plc. (NYSE: KING), maker of the Candy Crush Saga mobile game, raked in $500 million from its offering last March. After its June 2014 launch, GoPro Inc. (Nasdaq: GPRO) stock skyrocketed almost 200% within four months.

But it won't stop there. The tech sector should continue to dominate the 2015 IPO landscape.

That's why we're keeping an eye on the biggest tech IPOs in 2015.

Here's a look at 15 companies with a real or rumored valuation of at least $1 billion to watch this year...

Upcoming Tech IPOs in 2015

tech ipos in 2015Tech IPO in 2015 No. 1: Uber Inc. is by far the highest valued startup on the market right now. For investors, the biggest appeal is the untouched market it's disrupting. There's hardly been any competition in the taxi industry up until now. With Uber, consumers have a third option besides taxis and private car services. The company raked in about $213 million in revenue in 2013. According to the company, revenue has been doubling every six months. Uber also boasts an annual growth rate of nearly 145%. Since 2009, Uber has raised $2.8 billion in funding. It's currently valued at $40 billion. Uber will likely put off an IPO until later this year to address recent scandals that could deter investors.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 2: Spotify has become a worldwide leader in music streaming. In November, the service had 12.5 million paying subscribers worldwide. That's up from 6 million in 2013. The number of non-paying subscribers is four times that at 50 million.

Spotify's service is available in 57 different countries. There are roughly 1.5 billion music playlists that have been created on Spotify. Compared to other services, the company has the "paid subscriber" demographic in the bag. Pandora has twice as many listeners as Spotify, but Spotify triples their amount of paid listeners.

The company earned $577.1 million in revenue in 2012. It also raised $250 million in funding in March 2014 from Technology Crossover Ventures, which backed the Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) and Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) IPOs. As of July 2014, Spotify was valued at $10 billion.

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Tech IPO in 2015 No. 3: Inovalon Holdings Inc. is an analytics and data service provider for the healthcare sector. The Maryland-based company also partners with companies on an array of health-related research studies. Inovalon's data is the driving force behind everything from health plans to hospitals. Its most notable client is drug retailing giant Walgreens. Inovalon reported $51.9 million in income from Q1 through Q3 2014. That's up from $27 million in 2013. The company filed for its IPO on Dec. 30, 2014. It hopes to raise $500 million.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 4: Pinterest could become the last popular social media company to go public behind Facebook and Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR). Pinterest is a scrapbooking site allowing users to manage topical or themed "pins" through collections known as "pinboards." The site is notably popular among women due to its emphasis on clothes, recipes, and child-related activities. Pew Research Center found that women are more than four times more likely to use it than men. It currently has 40 million monthly active users. Pinterest has a $5 billion valuation, joining an exclusive club of startups valued between $5 billion and $10 billion like Spotify and Snapchat.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 5: Snapchat stunned the tech world when it declined Facebook's $3 billion acquisition in November 2013. That same month, CEO Evan Spiegel also turned down Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq: GOOGL) $4 billion offer. Many criticized the moves at first, but the photo messaging app has exploded since. Snapchat currently boasts 100 million monthly active users. According to The Wall Street Journal, its number of users is second only to Facebook's Messenger in the Apple App Store. The company raked in $163 million in funding last December. It also recently hired Imran Khan - the Credit Suisse banker who managed Alibaba's record-shattering IPO. Snapchat is valued at $10 billion by investors.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 6: GoDaddy Inc. is a web domain company that also sells e-business software and services. It has more than 12.2 million customers and about 57 million domain names. GoDaddy is known for its racy ads featuring models and celebrities, which has created strong brand awareness in the United States. That will make it one of the most talked about IPOs in 2015. But GoDaddy is not on our "best investments of 2015" list. Right now, the company is not profitable. It had a massive loss of $89 million in the first half of 2014. Despite that, it's currently seeking a $4.5 billion valuation. The company filed for its IPO on June 9, 2014 and hopes to launch early this year.

tech companiesTech IPO in 2015 No. 7: Xiaomi Inc. is the third-largest producer of smartphones in the world  behind Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung. Research firm IDC estimates that about 500 million smartphones will be sold in China this year. That's more than three times as many as will be sold in the United States. But profits are still an issue, because the company sells its products cheap. So cheap in fact, they're actually sold near their break-even point. The average Xiaomi device retails around $150. Xiaomi is ready to join the ranks of other huge Chinese stocks like Baidu Inc. (Nasdaq ADR: BIDU) and Alibaba. In late December, Xiaomi mustered $1.1 billion in its latest funding round. The company is valued in the $50 billion range.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 8: Egnyte Inc. is a file-sharing service provider founded in 2007. The California-based company offers a hybrid approach allowing users to store data across local, private, and public clouds. Some well-known customers include Cracker Barrel, IKEA, and Red Bull. Egnyte is much smaller than competitors Dropbox and Box. But its hybrid model doesn't burn through money like the other two's "freemium" models. That higher revenue flow gives it a leg up in investment potential. The company has received $62.5 million in funding over five rounds from eight investors.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 9: AppNexus is a New York City-based Internet advertising company. Its technology allows publishers and advertisers to manage digital ad inventory. Over 30 billion ads are auctioned and sold on AppNexus each day. In 2012, it handled about $700 million in ad spending. AppNexus took in an estimated $130 million in revenue in 2013. The company has raised $200 million in funding as of last August. Its valuation was $1.2 billion as of August 2014. AppNexus became New York's first billion-dollar tech company.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 10: Dropbox is a file hosting service that offers online cloud storage software. Dropbox allows users to create folders on their computers that can synchronize with other devices. The San Francisco-based company has raised about $1.1 billion in funding from investors that include T. Rowe Price, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), and Accel Partners. However, growth rates have dropped. Between 2012 and 2013 the company only added $4 million in revenue, a growth rate of 3.6%. The company is projected to reel in $400 million in 2014 revenue. After raising $350 million in its January funding round, Dropbox is reportedly valued at $10 billion.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 11: Airbnb Inc. is a social networking service allowing users to rent real estate properties. Airbnb has been facing legal troubles regarding its regulation. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reported that 75% of the company's rentals are illegal and violate hotel tax laws. But Airbnb listings keep growing, up to 975,000 from 350,000 last year. The company had 10 million guest stays between 2007 and 2013. Airbnb has raised about $800 million and is currently valued at $10 billion. But the valuation could jump to $13 billion after the company's next round of funding.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 12: Qualtrics provides data software that enables companies to collect market research, customer satisfaction data, employee evaluations, and website feedback. The company has 6,000 customers worldwide. They include half of the Fortune 100 and 99 of the top 100 business schools. Last September, it secured $150 million in a Series B funding round. That brought the company's total outside funding to $220 million. Qualtrics is currently valued at $1 billion.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 13: Square Inc. offers mobile payment readers that allow anyone to accept credit cards on their Apple or Android devices. It provides Square Reader, a stamp-sized add-on that reads and accepts credit card payments. Square also offers Square Register, an app that works with Square Reader to turn a smartphone into a mobile point of sale. According to CrunchBase, the San Francisco-based company has received $590.5 million in seven rounds from 35 investors. Square is valued at $6 billion.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 14: Actifio is an information technology firm headquartered in Waltham, Mass. The company specializes in data storage and copy data virtualization. Its innovative storage methods separate it from competitors. The company has won over clients by minimizing costs associated with storing copies of identical business data. In its most recent funding round, Actifio raised $100 million. It has received a total of $207.5 million over five rounds. The company is valued at more than $1 billion. It's expected to go public in the second half of 2015.

Tech IPO in 2015 No. 15: Etsy Inc. is an online marketplace focused on handmade crafts and vintage goods. These include art, photography, clothing, food, knick-knacks, and toys. Etsy was founded in 2005 and by 2008 the e-commerce site had 1 million registered users. There were about 40 million as of June 2014. So far, the company has generated $97.3 million in eight rounds of funding. It's currently looking to raise $300 million through an IPO, and is valued at more than $1 billion. Bloomberg reported that Etsy could hold an IPO as soon as this quarter.

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More on Xiaomi IPO: The Chinese smartphone producer is set to go public in early 2015. It has raised over $1 billion in its last round of funding alone. But the impressive numbers only tell half the Xiaomi story. Here's why it stands out from the crowd - and could be the hottest IPO of 2015...

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