We’re not very far into 2014, but you can already call this the year of the IPO. So far, more than 40 companies have gone public. That’s more than double last year at this time and the most since the economic boom year of 2007. “And the party’s just starting,” says John Fitzgibbon, founder of IPO Scoop. He says the IPO boom is all about the strong stock market. “It’s very simple approach. Good stock market equals good IPO market. Lousy market, kiss it goodbye.”

The stock market has been a bit bumpy, but worries about a crash are easing. Investors now want to put their money into companies they think will deliver solid returns. “The increase in the activity for the IPO market is really a statement of how much the market had been held back in the previous last few years,” says David Menlow, president of IPO Financial.com. And Menlow says many companies feel they’ve gotta go public before the other guy. “They’ll be a sense of urgency as we move through the year and businesses will expand and as a result we’re expecting all boats to rise with the tide.”

Menlow expects we’ll see the IPO pace keep up through the end of the year.