54 Kiwi companies make the Deloitte Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500

Fifty-four New Zealand technology companies have been included in the 2015 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index, setting a new record for Kiwi representation and outpacing last year’s 51 companies.

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.

Leading the list of New Zealand businesses is Auckland-based transcription service Transcribe Me, ranked 18^th on the regional index with an impressive 1,818% growth.  It is followed by workforce management software company GeoOp and cloud-based retail software platform Vend, which come in 41^st and 83^rd respectively.

Deloitte Private partner Darren Johnson says the 54 companies from New Zealand out-performs regional heavyweights South Korea (50) and Japan (34), and is only one company shy of India (55), on the index.

“This year’s record Kiwi representation, with New Zealand companies accounting for over 10% of the entire Asia Pacific index for the second 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 growing 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 13 from Wellington, six from Hamilton and five from Christchurch.

Other notable results from the 2015 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index include:

• The top-ranked business on this year’s Asia Pacific index is Devsisters, a South Korean global entertainment company that develops and services mobile games and game characters. Based in Seoul, Devsisters achieved an astonishing annual growth of 8,516%.  It is the second year in a row that a South Korean company has been the overall winner.
• In terms of the geographical spread, the largest number of companies are from China (139), followed by Taiwan (86), Australia (80), India (55), New Zealand (54), South Korea (50), Japan (34), Singapore (1) and Singapore/Hong Kong (1). 
• Revenue growth across the index averaged 415% this year, up from last year’s 405% average.
• 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.
• 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.

For the full Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2015 index, go to www.deloitte.com/fast500asiapacific.  

New Zealand companies on the 2015 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index

About the Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific

The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 is the pre-eminent technology awards programme in Asia Pacific, and now in its fourteenth year, it includes eight Asia Pacific locations: Australia; China (including Hong Kong); India; Japan; South Korea; New Zealand; Singapore and Taiwan. Combining technological innovation, entrepreneurship and rapid growth, Fast 500 companies — large, small, public, and private — span a variety of industry sectors, and are leaders in hardware, software, telecom, semiconductors, life sciences and emerging areas, such as clean technology. These companies are transforming the way we do business today.