53 Kiwi companies make the Deloitte Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500

Fifty-three New Zealand technology companies have been included in the 2016 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index, one shy of last year’s record 54 companies and the third year in a row with over 50 Kiwi businesses represented.

The index, announced in Hong Kong today, 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.

Chinese company Chengdu Wolaila, which provides e-commerce and 24-hour express delivery services through an internet portal called Sposter, tops this year’s index with a staggering 25,239% growth.

Leading the list of New Zealand businesses is Auckland-based mobile payment company Pushpay, ranked 10^th on the regional index with an impressive 4,574% growth. It is followed by customer relationship management platform Plexure and appointment booking and scheduling software company Timely, which come in 35^th and 71^st respectively on the 2016 index.

Fourteen Kiwi technology companies are placed in the top one-third of the index and seven are in the top 100.

Deloitte Private partner Darren Johnson says the 53 companies from New Zealand out-performs regional heavyweights South Korea (50) and Japan (35), and is just shy of Taiwan (57), in terms of representation on the index.

“This year’s strong Kiwi representation, with New Zealand companies accounting for over 10% of the entire Asia Pacific index for the third straight year, is continued evidence that our technology companies are thriving on the world stage,” says Mr Johnson.

“As we saw in the Deloitte Fast 50 unveiled last month, a number of Kiwi companies have embraced disruptive technologies; with many in business to help other companies better navigate these technological changes.”

Auckland-based businesses lead the Kiwi contingent on the list with 24 companies represented, while there are 15 from Wellington, 6 from Christchurch, 3 from Hamilton, 2 from Dunedin and one each from Whangarei, New Plymouth and Queenstown.

Other notable results from the 2016 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index include:

• The top-ranked business on this year’s Asia Pacific index is Chengdu Wolaila with a growth rate of 25,239 percent.  Based in China, Chengdu Wolaila provides e-commerce and 24-hour express delivery services through an internet portal called Sposter. Sposter is the world’s largest smart delivery box operator, using a network of pin code-operated 'smart boxes' for drop-off and collection of items throughout communities in China, with 30 million subscribers and an average of 1 million deliveries per day.
• In terms of the geographical spread, the largest number of companies are from China (150), followed by Australia (88), India (63), Taiwan (57), New Zealand (53), South Korea (50), Japan (35), Singapore (2) and Maylasia (2).
• Apart from China’s dominance of the index, the strength of Australian technology companies also stood-out this year, with 88 companies (up from 80 in 2015), as their representation in the ranking continues to climb year on year. 
• Revenue growth across the index averaged 573% this year, up 158 percentage points from last year’s 415% average.
• The software sector continues to dominate. 199 companies in the top 500 were software companies, accounting for 40 percent of the companies ranked.
• In a shake-up from past years, the media sector overtook hardware as the second-most prevalent sector in this year's rankings, accounting for 19 percent of this years' Technology Fast 500.

The full list of winners of the 2016 Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500 and details about the nomination and eligibility criteria of the program can be found on www.deloitte.com/fast500asiapacific.

NZ companies on the 2016 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index