The index ranks the top 500 tech businesses according to their revenue growth over the past three years and sets the standard for high growth technology businesses in the Asia Pacific region. Deloitte Technology Fast 500 here
Leading the list of Kiwi companies on the index is this year’s Deloitte Fast 50 winner Voyager Internet, ranked 23rd, followed by cloud-based retail software platform Vend and men’s clothing retailer I Love Ugly, ranked 30th and 31st respectively.
Reasons for success
What accounts for the success of our technology businesses on the international stage? Looking deeper at some of the trends in this year’s index two things stand out: 342 companies (68%) had revenues under US$10 million, a significant increase over 258 in 2013, and the software sector leads the industry sectors for the second consecutive year, with 146 companies on the index.
Both of these points illustrate the growing influence of digital disruption. Software, in particular, lends itself to the cloud and cloud-related technologies. And it’s more possible than ever to be a smaller company with a global reach. These both play to the strengths of New Zealand’s tech sector.
New Zealand’s 51 companies out-performs regional heavyweights South Korea and Japan on the index, with 47 and 45 companies respectively. Certainly the playing field has become more even because of digital technology.
NZ companies who are rocking on the Asia Pac stage
Highlights
Other highlights from the 2014 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index include:
Twenty-four of the 51 Kiwi companies are from the Auckland region, 14 are from Wellington, 8 are from the Central North Island and 5 are from Canterbury.
The top-ranked business on this year’s Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index is Daum Kakao Corp, the South Korean company behind the popular instant messaging application KakaoTalk. Based in Seoul, Daum Kakao Corp achieved an astonishing annual growth of 11,618%. It is the first time a South Korean company has been the overall winner.
By geography
In terms of the regional geographical spread, the largest number of companies are from China (100), followed by Taiwan and India (90 each), Australia (74), New Zealand (51), South Korea (47), Japan (45), Singapore (2) and Malaysia (1).
Revenue growth across the index averaged 405% this year, up from last year’s 356% average.
For full Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2014 index, click here
Darren Johnson is a Deloitte Private partner who passionate about tax, technology, SMEs and start-ups. He has helped many Kiwi companies go abroad
