As private technology companies rush to cash in on the first signs of stock market interest in initial public offerings for more than two years, the Silicon Valley appears to be on the cusp of Wall Street Fever.

At a level not seen since the 1990s, financiers are talking of stock sales by tech companies led by social networking company Facebook and a batch of other Internet and greentech companies.

However, some seasoned financiers warn that most of the companies that have set their sights on Wall Street will never make it, and will be forced instead to sell out to a larger company. In two recent sales of private Internet companies, Zappos, the online retailer, was bought by Amazon for $850 million, and AdMob, the leading mobile advertising network, was acquired by Google for $750 million.

Last month, the number of companies that filed their intention to go public with the Securities and Exchange Commission jumped to 31, the largest number since before the financial crisis over a year ago. Hopes for a revival have been spurred by the strong rebound in technology shares since the spring, as well as the swelling ranks of large and profitable Silicon Valley firms.

In my opinion, Zappos was probably going to be the biggest IPO of the year in 2010. There have been a great number of these companies that have been working under the covers. I estimate there are up to 100 companies now that have hundreds of millions in revenue and profitability and are ready to file. There’s a lot of assessment going on right now within portfolios about which companies might be ready to go next year.

View a previously written post by Mouli Cohen about the economy

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