Five tech IPOs to watch in 2012

In the tech IPO market, there wasn't much to celebrate in 2011. Sure, some companies popped, but many of them fell back to Earth. IMPV) IPO" href="http://www.insideipo.com/tag/imperva">Imperva is among the exceptions, according to an International Business Times report, but the likes of ZNGA) IPO" href="http://www.insideipo.com/tag/zynga">Zynga and GRPN) IPO" href="http://www.insideipo.com/tag/groupon">Groupon are still below their IPO prices.

So, what's going to happen in 2012? Already, there are several companies to watch.

1. Facebook: Facebook is expected to go public this year. It's looking to raise $10 bn at a valuation of $100 bn and plans to use its broad recognition and adoption (more than 800 mn users) to help bring it over the goal line. After what looks like a disappointing 2011 for the white-hot social media company, it may need to lean on brand as Groupon and Zynga did last year.

2. Yelp: the user-generated review site has filed with the SEC. The company is looking to raise $100 mn, with GS)" href="http://www.insideipo.com/tag/goldman-sachs">Goldman Sachs and Jefferies as the lead underwriters. Yelp is not yet profitable.

3. SunGard: the technology services company, focused on the financial sector, is expected to go public this year. It went private back in 2005 in an $11.4 bn deal involving Bain Capital, Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs, KKR, Providence Equity Partners and TPG. According to International Business Times, ‘the investors should be assumed to want an exit.'

4. Tumblr: this one surprised me. The New York-based social media site has been raising big venture capital money, picking up $85 mn in its most recent round from Sequoia Capital, Greylock Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital and Richard Branson. The round led to an implied valuation of around $100 mn. Tumblr is four years old and has yet to turn a profit. Also, it did have some problems with stability last year as a result of unexpected rates of adoption.

5. Dropbox: the cloud-based data storage company has pulled in more than $257 mn in venture capital money, with big-name backers such as Accel Partners, Goldman Sachs, Benchmark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners. If it doesn't go public, Dropbox could easily be picked up by someone like EMC or IBM.

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Source: International Business Times