I have a stupid question: was there a regulatory change in the recent past that made it easier to file for IPOs? Or is this just a coincidence that all these S-1s were filed around the same time?
There has been a recession in the US +/- 2 years of the end of every decade for the past 160+ years.
That sounds a bit hand-wavey / crystal ball / technical analysis, but has reasons in fundamentals: Several years of collective prosperity decrease risk aversion, low inflation / money targets (thus interest rates) make (over) investment cheap (offices, tall buildings, capital stock, etc), collective memory fades.
Certainly not written in stone, however. A book recommendation covering the above, and influence of such fundamentals in long term financial trends: Irrational Exuberance by Robert J Shiller.
I am not, nobody is ... But a lot of people more knowledgeable than me in this area say it's highly probable we'll have one next year or early 2021. The 'when' don't matter much in this context, alot of people are expecting one and it's coming which makes it an ideal time to IPO
To counter what the others are saying - yes we're at the end of a 10 year market high, but unless VC firms are _entirely liquidating_ their position immediately after the S-1, which they are not, this doesn't to me indicate that a recession is coming. In fact, if anything, the opposite.