China and Clean Technology Shine in Deloitte’s 2015 Technology Fast 500™ Ranking of Asia’s 500 Fastest-Growing Tech Companies

Published: 4 December 2015

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) today announced its rankings of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) companies across Asia Pacific.

Korea’s Devsisters secured first place in the 2015 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific program, marking the second year in a row that a South Korean company has been the overall winner.

Based in Seoul, Devsisters is a global entertainment company which was established to develop and service mobile games and game characters. It's ‘OvenBreak’ game series has been immensely popular in 20 countries across North America, Europe, and beyond. The ‘Cookie Run’ series is positioned as one of the representative ‘endless running’ games with over 100 million downloads to date.

"We're honored to have come top of the 2015 Tech Fast Awards", said Ji-Hoon Lee and Jong-Heun Kim, co-CEO of Devsisters. "Our focus has always been on delivering the highest quality, innovation, creativity and of course user experience, which is evident in all our games. This ranking justifies all the work which we have put in as an organization and shows we are on the right path to continued success."

While Devsisters led the overall ranking, the big takeaways from this year were the increased presence of both Chinese and Clean technology companies. China who have the most companies in the top 500, also have six in the top ten, including Wuhan hi-target Digital Cloud Technology Co Ltd, Changzhou Yihutong Logistics Technology Co Ltd and Chongqing Yijifu Technology Co Ltd. Clean technology saw a significant increase this year with its strongest representation yet in the ranking, and a sign that North Asian markets are turning attention to this sector.

"Our 2015 rankings have once again shown us some fascinating results from across the Asia Pacific region. It's exciting to see that a South Korean firm has once again topped the rankings, and also how China's presence continues to grow more dominant each year", said Ichiro Nakayama, DTTL Leader, Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific

Revenue Growth Trends

The top 500 companies in 2015 averaged a revenue growth of 415 percent; a steady increase from last year’s average growth of 405 percent. Additionally, a total of 231 companies making up this year’s ranking had final year revenues under US$10 million, a notable decrease from over 342 in 2014. The biggest increase was seen by companies with revenues between US$10-$50 million, with 164 companies this year compared to 108 in 2014.

"The Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific program has become a barometer for company growth. The ranking data tends to reveal a great deal on the industry sectors and gives insight to the latest technologies which are shaping the future. By identifying these trends, such as this year's growth in clean technologies, we can begin to speculate on the impact of these changes to the region and markets” said Ichiro Nakayama, DTTL Leader Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific.

Geographic Trends

With 139 companies in the top 500, China once again leads the rankings geographically, with the largest number of fast-growing companies, and this year marked a significant increase over 100 companies in 2014.

There were some interesting changes in country representation this year with India decreasing significantly to 55 companies from 90 in 2014. Japan (34) and Taiwan (86) also saw a decrease in the number of companies represented.

Other countries continued to strengthen their presence in the rankings with Australia (80 companies), New Zealand (54) and South Korea (50) all recording increased numbers of ranked companies over the 2014 results.

Sector Trends

The Software sector saw a substantial increase this year of 35 companies to 181 and yet again leads the industry sectors for the third year in a row. The sector also includes our overall 2015 winner Devsisters Corp.

The Hardware sector remained in second place overall with 100 companies in the top 500, although down by 30 companies from 2014. This marks the third year in a row that the sector has declined.

Clean technology saw a large increase and in 2015 has 48 companies represented in the rankings, up from 13 in 2014. "The Chinese government is striving to meet new climate targets for 2030 and we anticipate measures to further cut carbon emission, but also support for the development of renewable energy. In terms of sub-sectors, outlook is positive for waste and bio-treatment, but looks challenging for traditional players in solar and wind power due to oversupply” said Po, Hou, Managing Partner, Technology, Media and Telecommunications Industry, Deloitte China.

Life Sciences which includes biotech, pharmaceutical and medical devices saw an increase this year to 42 companies up from 33 in 2014. The Media (87) and Communications (42) industries both saw a decrease this year.

Private and Listed

This year there was a notable drop in the number of private companies represented (349 down to 297) which breaks the trend of previous years. Private companies now only make up 59 percent of the ranking compared to 70 percent in 2014.

Top 10 ranked companies in the 2015 Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500