Xero in top 10 fastest growing companies

Rod Drury, chief executive of Wellington based software development company Xero. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Wellington based online accounting company Xero has become the first Kiwi business to make it into Deloitte Technology Fast 500's top 10 fastest growing companies in the Asia Pacific.

The index ranks the top 500 tech businesses according to their revenue growth over the past three years and sets the standard for high growth businesses in the Asia Pacific region.

Xero came in at eighth on the list with 2,250.26 per cent growth.

The second-highest ranked New Zealand business was Auckland-based online business directory developer Gopher, whose growth was 1,456.33 per cent.

A record 11 New Zealand companies were ranked in the top 100 of the index, up from eight last year when a total of 51 businesses made the Tech Fast 500.

Bay of Plenty online retailer Natureshop was placed 24th on the index, while Auckland-based Mobilis Networks was 25th.

Leader of the New Zealand Fast 50 programme, partner Matt McKendry said the results showed Kiwi businesses could match it with the best technology entrepreneurs in the world.

"These businesses are operating in highly competitive regional and global technology markets where they don't have a natural competitive advantage, unlike many of our primary sector businesses," McKendry said.

The overall top-ranked business was Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer Giga Solar Materials Corp with 24,694.1 per cent growth.