Last week’s $3.8Bn in total proceeds raised was good enough for first place in 2012 as primary markets continue their sluggish mend into the new year. All told, 13 deals priced with 3 IPOs and 10 follow-ons. While the month of February will close on a 20% build in month-over-month proceeds, activity still lags year-over-year comparisons.

After an impressive two week span in which 11 IPOs priced, new issuance cooled last week, with only one IPO pricing for $55.0 million in proceeds. Following a similar sentiment from the previous week, investor appetite for Tech deals remained strong following Facebook's initial filing, with last week's lone issuer, Brightcove Inc., hailing from the Tech space. Year-to-date, Technology deals have accounted for nearly 38% of IPOs on a count-basis and that number could grow in the next two weeks with Bazaarvoice and Yelp on tap. Despite the renewed interest in Tech IPOs this year, new issuance in general is having a hard time picking up momentum as deal sizes have slipped from recent historical levels.

In the wake of Facebook's $5 billion IPO filing, the Technology sector reclaimed the spotlight in the new issuance markets last week, pricing three IPOs and bringing the industry's monthly IPO count to four, the most from any sector so far in February. Like many recent Technology IPOs, all three issuers recorded strong first day pops, with EPAM jumping nearly 17% on its first day of trading and FX Alliance and Synacor both advancing 15% in their debuts.

February is shaping up to be a solid month for new issuance as four IPOs priced on U.S. exchanges in the first three days, already ahead of the three priced IPOs for all of January. In the last five years, an average of nine IPOs priced in February, and with eight IPOs expected this week, the second month of this year appears on track to easily eclipse that figure.