No profits? No problem. Investors are showing increasing hunger for initial public offerings of unprofitable technology companies and the potential for big gains that they bring.

Sixty-eight percent of US-listed technology debuts this year, or 19 out of 28 deals, have been companies that lost money in the prior fiscal year or past 12 months, according to Jay Ritter, professor of finance at the University of Florida. That is the highest percentage since 2007, and 2001 before that.