What's going on?

January saw companies raise a record amount of money in their stock market debuts, and February�s looking promising too.

What does this mean?

Over 200 new stocks hit the market in January, and those initial public offerings (IPOs) were worth a combined $49 billion � up from $12 billion the same time the year before. And there are no signs the rush is slowing down. For one thing, demand�s still sky-high: the five biggest American IPOs this year raised more money than the companies were aiming for, while two of Europe�s biggest saw enough orders for every one of the firms� new shares within 90 minutes. And for another thing, companies are accelerating their plans to go public so they can profit from high stock market prices…

Why should I care?

Zooming in: IPOs are on a high.

Four companies announced they�d be joining the UK stock market on Monday, which should come as welcome news to a European IPO market that lagged behind both the US and Asia last year. One of them is Australian firm MGC pharmaceuticals � the first medical cannabis company to list on the London Stock Exchange since UK regulators gave the green light to do just that. MGC pharmaceuticals � which is developing weed-based epilepsy and dementia drugs � is already listed in Sydney, but it reckons coming to London will raise both its profile and around $7 billion from UK investors.

The bigger picture: This feels familiar.

Not all analysts are sold on the IPO craze: the time might be right for companies to raise money from investors, sure, but they still need a good enough reason to ask for it. Some are even comparing it to the height of the dotcom bubble, when companies were keen to get their hands on investors� money while the going was good � and we all know how that ended�