Forty-five Kiwi companies named on Deloitte Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500 index

• Chinese live streaming platform Wuhan Douyu takes the top spot
• Firefly Search is the top New Zealand company, coming in 17^th place

Forty-five New Zealand technology companies have been included in the 2017 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index, marking the first time in the last four years the total number of Kiwi companies on the regional index has fallen below fifty.

The index, announced in Hong Kong today, ranks the top 500 technology businesses according to their revenue growth over the past three years, setting the standard for high growth technology businesses in the Asia Pacific region.

Chinese live streaming platform Wuhan Douyu Network Technology Co Ltd (Wuhan Douyu) tops this year’s index with an otherworldly 70,776% growth. Australian online disability support platform Hireup comes in second with 7,713% growth.

Leading the list of New Zealand businesses is Auckland-based digital marketing company Firefly Search, ranked 17^th on the index with an impressive 2,156% growth. The second and third highest ranked Kiwi companies are digital money lender Moola.co.nz and mobile payment company Pushpay, which come in 49^th and 56^th respectively.

Ten New Zealand technology companies are placed in the top one-third of the index and five are in the top 100. This is compared to fourteen in the top third and seven in the top 100 in 2016.

While the number of Kiwi companies (45) is down slightly this year, New Zealand’s total is similar to regional heavyweights South Korea (43), Japan (46) and India (53) on the index.

China (119) once again tops the index, followed by Taiwan (101) and Australia (90).

Deloitte Private partner Darren Johnson says the lower total number of New Zealand companies on the index this year should not be a cause for panic.

“The Asia Pacific region continues to be at the forefront of revolutionary digital change and New Zealand is right in the mix. This year’s Kiwi representation on the index is continued evidence that our technology companies are making an impact on the world stage,” says Mr Johnson.

“As we saw in the Deloitte Fast 50, unveiled last month, many 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 with 21 companies represented, while there are 15 from Wellington, 3 from Christchurch, 2 from Hamilton, 2 from Dunedin, and one each from Gisborne and New Plymouth.

Other notable results from the 2017 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index include:

• The top-ranked business on this year’s Asia Pacific index, China based Wuhan Douyu, is a leading live streaming platform backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. Wuhan Douyu develops and operates Douyutv.com, similar to Amazon owned Twitch, a live game streaming video platform.
• Apart from China’s dominance of the index, the strength of Taiwan’s technology companies also stood-out this year with 101 companies in the top 500 (up from 57 in 2016). 
• Revenue growth across the index averaged 600% this year, up 27 percentage points from last year’s 573% average.
• The software sector continues to dominate. 212 software companies, 42% of the companies ranked, are in the 2017 index. This is up from 199 in 2016.
• Hardware was the second most prevalent sector in this year's rankings, accounting for 18% of the Technology Fast 500. Despite this, only one hardware company made it into the top ten – Zero Latency Pty Ltd, an Australian online multi-player virtual reality game.

The full list of winners of the 2017 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 2017 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index