NEW YORK: After a flurry of initial public offerings (IPOs) that raised US$11.7bil this year, a new crop of blank-cheque firms are joining a long queue: all the other vehicles waiting for the chance to take a company public.

The rush of IPOs marks the busiest start to a year since 2021’s boom, with a whopping 53 companies raising four times as much as in the same period last year, according to data from SPAC Research, which tracks the industry.