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Amy Bell
This fourth annual FT ranking of 500 of the Asia-Pacific region’s high-growth companies — compiled in partnership with research provider Statista — is the most competitive to date.
In order to be listed in the top 100, a company now needs to show almost 100 per cent revenue growth in its financial statements every year, for three years.
The list ranks entrants from across the region by their compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue between 2017 and 2020 (China has been omitted due to difficulties in verifying data).
The top three companies are: a Philippines ecommerce enabler for both regional and big multinational brands; a South Korean health tech group producing diagnostic medical devices focused on virus immunity; and an app maker, also from South Korea, specialising in the provision of live sports commentary in real time, via text and audio.
Other notable companies in the ranking include a developer of computer-generated holographic control systems, a toy subscription service, a creative platform for cartoons, a provider of student information systems, and a cloud storage business.
Japan has the most entries in this year’s list, with 168 companies, followed by India with 97. Singapore comes in third with 61, edging past Australia, which has 60.
The cities with the most growth champions listed are Tokyo, which has 97, and Seoul, with 42.
We will take a closer look at the companies featured in the list in a special report, to be published on April 7.
Like last year, technology is the sector with the biggest presence in the ranking, with 27 per cent of companies falling into this category. Also well represented are fintech, property, advertising, support services and ecommerce.
A ranking such as this can never claim to be complete, however, as many fast-growing companies are privately held and detailed financial information is not made public. Also, some companies in the region did not want to reveal their revenue figures, or chose not to take part for other reasons.
Of those that did disclose and verify their revenues, the 500 fastest-growing are listed in the table here. Readers can use the toggle arrows at the top of the table’s columns to filter by country, sector or revenue.
See the full methodology below the table.
Companies that are interested in participating in next year’s ranking can register here to be shortlisted. The application period will start in September 2022.
Asia-Pacific High-Growth Companies 2022 is a list of the 500 companies in the Asia-Pacific region that achieved the highest percentage growth in revenues between 2017 and 2020.
The ranking was created through a complex procedure. Although the search was extensive, the ranking does not claim to be complete, as some companies did not want to make their figures public or did not participate for other reasons.
Through research in company databases and other public sources, Statista identified tens of thousands of companies in the Asia-Pacific region as potential candidates for the ranking. These businesses were invited to participate in the competition by post, email and telephone.
The project was also advertised online and in print, allowing all eligible companies to register via the websites created by Statista and the Financial Times. In addition, Statista researched exchange-listed high-profile companies from Taiwan to make the list more comprehensive.
The application phase ran from June 2021 to February 2022. The submitted revenue figures had to be certified by the company’s CFO, CEO, or a member of its executive committee.
Criteria for inclusion
To be included in the list of fast-growing companies in the Asia-Pacific region, a company had to meet the following criteria:
Revenue of at least $100,000 generated in 2017 (or currency value equivalent as of December 31 2017);
Revenue of at least $1m generated in 2020 (or currency value equivalent as of December 31 2020);
An independent company (not a subsidiary or branch office of any kind);
Headquartered in one of these 13 territories in the Asia-Pacific region — Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam;
Revenue growth between 2017 and 2020 that was primarily organic (ie “internally” generated).
Calculation of growth rates
The calculation of growth rates is based on the revenue figures submitted by the companies in their respective national currencies. For better comparability in the ranking, the revenues were converted into US dollars. The exchange rates of December 31 2017 and 2020, respectively, were used for this purpose.
The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was calculated as follows:
( (revenue2020 / revenue2017 )^(1/3)) — 1 = CAGR
The absolute growth between 2017 and 2020 was calculated as follows:
(revenue2020 / revenue2017) — 1 = Growth rate
Evaluation and quality assurance
All data reported by the companies was processed and checked by Statista. Missing data entries (employee numbers, address data, etc) were researched in detail. Companies that did not fulfil the criteria for inclusion in the ranking were deleted.
The minimum average annual growth rate required to be included in the ranking this year was 18.1 per cent.
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