An image of the Snapchat logo created with Post-it notes is seen in the windows of Havas Worldwide at 200 Hudson Street in lower Manhattan, New York, U.S., May 18, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Last year represented one of the most dismal for initial public offerings in the U.S. — the total amount of money raised marked a 13-year low. But with the election past us, companies don’t wish to delay any longer in getting started with this year’s round of IPOs.

The number of deals and the money raised dropped by more than 35 percent year-over-year in 2016, according to a report by Renaissance Capital, an IPO advisory firm. There were only 105 IPO deals in the United States, the lowest number since 2009. Companies raised $18.8 billion, the lowest level since 2003.

Because of 2016’s haphazard nature, several companies postponed their public offering plans because of high volatility.

Volatility created by the sell-off in Chinese markets in the first quarter of 2016. Then Brexit hit during the summer, and finally, the general elections in fall.

However, volatility wasn’t the only thing attributed to 2016’s sluggish IPO market, perhaps not even the main reason. At the end of the day, it comes down to dollars and cents.

“The primary reason for the lack of tech IPOs is the public-private disconnect on valuation,” stated the Renaissance report. The companies want too much money for their shares, more than investors want to pay.

Regardless, there are a multitude of tech companies with plans to go public in 2017, many with much anticipation. Of all, social media giant Snapchat has to be one of the most anticipated offerings of the year. Snapchat plans to go public early this year, the company was previously valued at $20 billion during its last round of private funding in May.

It now targets a valuation in the $20 billion to $25 billion range in public markets.

However, the video messaging company is still failing to generate any substantial ad revenues. This leaves the company in the taxing position of presenting a compelling investment case to justify the aforementioned valuation, higher than Twitter’s $11 billion. Based on the multiple of market capitalization to advertising, Snapchat will be far more expensive than Facebook and Twitter, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Private valuations of companies have skyrocketed in recent years because of private equity and venture capital, the two groups who invested too much money in companies when there were fewer to chase. The limited number of attractive companies led to a fierce competition among investors and pushed valuations to historically high levels.

The number of VC-backed companies that became unicorns in 2016 — the term used to define a startup company with a value north of $1 billion — fell to single digits after 25 of them made the breakthrough in 2015, according to a report by consulting firm KPMG.

The popular ride-sharing service, Uber, looks to make its public offering in 2017, and would do so as the year’s most valuable private company with a valuation of $68 billion. Uber does not have a specific timetable for its offering, and according to some reports, may test the market at the end of the year. However, the company’s mounting losses could cancel out the plans, the company expect to lose as much as $3 billion from 2016 operations.

Airbnb, the internet’s most popular peer-to-peer homestay network, reached a valuation of $30 billion in August 2016.