KPMG and HSBC reveal APAC's emerging tech giants

Australia is home to the largest number of technology start-ups in the Asia Pacific, after India and China according to a joint KPMG and HSBC report.

The joint study “Emerging Giants in Asia Pacific 2022” revealed that venture finance investments hit US$5.3 billion in the country last year, nearly 2.8 times that of 2020.

According to Amada Price, head of High Growth Ventures at KPMG Australia, “The pandemic sparked growth in digital start-ups which hasn’t stopped.

“When Covid hit, companies realised almost immediately they had to digitalise to be able to cope. But a lot of the infrastructure put in place was temporary, that process is now going to continue as people figure out what’s really needed and put it in place.”

The list of emerging giants in Australia includes fintechs, advanced manufacturing, digital health, cryptocurrency and cloudtech, and is led by Finder, a platform that enables users to compare financial products.

KPMG and HSBC also named Pentana Solutions, Omniscient, Eucalyptus, Easy Crypto, Alpha Fintech, GBST Holdings, Harrison.ai, Secure Code Warrior and Avocado Guild as Australian emerging giants, after analysing over 6000 companies with valuations of up to US$500 million.

“Australian start-ups are adopting a more global mindset. No start-up plans only for the local market anymore,” said Price.

Other companies in the region which were flagged as ones to watch include China’s BioMind, Hong Kong’s Catheon Gaming, India’s BrightChamps, Indonesia’s Waresix, Japan’s Cygames, Malaysia’s Boost Holdings, Singapore’s Spenmo, South Korea’s Tridge, Taiwan’s Maicoin, Thailand’s Eatigo, and Vietnam’s Propzy.

According to Kee Joo Wong, CEO at HSBC Singapore, “From Singapore’s position as a global and regional financial centre, we’ve observed increased interest in venture capital participation in Series A and B rounds of innovative firms in either B2B software of financial services sectors across Europe and Asia.”

The report highlights ESG opportunities as a centric to business and investment strategies in the Asia Pacific, and China is highlighted as a leader in this space, as it prioritises green development, energy transition, and ESG in manufacturing, construction and mobility.

Daniel Chan, head of technology, media and telecommunications at KPMG China noted, “More and more investment is going to ESG – mainly fast-growing technology companies doing things such as R&D into environmentally friendly plastics, new materials and other products.”

According to the report, “For Asia Pacific jurisdictions to meet their climate goals, they will require a host of new technologies and processes supported by massive amounts of funding.”