The Top Ten IPO Candidates For 2010

It's been a long drought for IPOs , but venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs are hopeful that 2010 will be the year they rain down on the Valley once gain. Earlier this year, a handful of IPOs trickled out , such as OpenTable , Rackspace , and A123Systems . But what people are really waiting for is another Netscape moment —an iconic IPO which will whet investor's appetites and open the floodgates for others to follow. Below is our list of the top ten IPO candidates for 2010 in the technology industry (and, no, it doesn't include Twitter). I conducted an informal survey of some top VCs and angel investors. These are the names whispered about the most in the Valley and other tech circles. The hope is that the economy will swing back and the public markets will become receptive to IPOs, especially towards the second half of the year. The stock market in general is finding its legs already. The S&P 500 is up 24 percent this year. If the bull market continues, that will be good for the prospects of seeing these potential IPOs. And if it doesn't, there's always M&A.