Asia's fastest growing tech company, Ke.com

Deloitte posts annual ranking which sheds light on Indian startups

In the Asian-Pacific region, Chinese companies dominate the rankings in the technology category, taking seven of the top 10 spots in 2018. According to a survey by Deloitte, a management consultancy, India was close behind.

Deloitte's annual "Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Ranking" rates publicly traded and privately held tech companies headquartered in the region by fiscal year revenue growth from 2015 to 2017, or 2016 to 2018 for a financial year ending between January and June. Chinese companies are increasingly dominant, accounting for nearly 30% of the 500 companies on the list, up from 23% in 2017.

"We are witnessing a rapid transition from legacy business models to online platforms among B2B ecosystems, and China is at the forefront of this growth," said Toshifumi Kusunoki, the report's principal author, in a statement.

The top spot went to Ke.com Technology, an online real estate brokerage that offers new, secondhand and rental properties in about 500 cities across China, using technologies such as virtual reality to allow customers to browse. The Chinese unicorn -- as privately held companies valued at $1 billion or more are called -- is owned by one of the country's largest real estate companies, Homelink Real Estate Agency, also known as Lianjia. Ke.com's revenue grew an astounding 32,179% over the two years.

Guangzhou Hui Zheng Zhi United Technology was second on the list. The operator of the B2B platform offers services for the chemical industry ranging from consulting and interactive marketing to sourcing of materials and logistics. The company saw revenue growth of 24,702%.

China had 149 companies among the top 500 and seven out of the top 10. The top five companies in this year's ranking were all Chinese.

However, the composition of the top 10 has changed drastically. In 2017, Wuhan Douyu Network Technology took first place. The company, backed by Tencent Holdings, is a livestreaming games platform. Another gaming company, developer Guangzhou Fengei Network Technology, ranked third.

Deloitte's Kusunoki said 2018 saw "an interesting and diverse selection of B2B e-commerce, including real estate, chemicals, textiles, industrial supplies and fintech companies."

China's tech industry has rocketed to prominence in the last several years. Five years ago there were no Chinese companies in the top 10 of the Deloitte ranking. "Various transformations have overlapped in China, which rapidly boosted technological advances," said Kenji Yoshikawa, a senior economist at Mizuho Securities.

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