The number of up and coming Australian tech companies that I've stumbled over this year has truly been staggering.
No fewer than 30 technology companies have listed on the ASX in the past two years, including some that have seen their share prices soar since listing. Here's a brief selection:
- 1-Page Ltd (ASX: 1PG) – up 720% since October 2014
- iSignThis Ltd (ASX: ISX) – up 307% since March 2015
- Appen Limited (ASX: APX) – up 239% since January 2015
- Norwood Systems Limited (ASX: NOR) – up 255% since June 2015
- Catapult Group International Ltd (ASX: CAT) – up 193% since December 2014
- Vista Group International Limited (ASX: VGL) – up 133% since August 2014
- Rhipe Limited (ASX: RHP) – up 151% since April 2014
- Migme Limited (ASX: MIG) – up 147% since August 2014
- Reffind Ltd (ASX: RFN) – up 163% since July 2015
There have also been some old stalwarts that have rocketed ahead in the past 12 months…
- Adacel Technologies Limited (ASX: ADA) up 696%
- Netcomm Wireless Ltd (ASX: NTC) up 520%
- SmartTrans Holdings Limited (ASX: SMA) up 400%
- Dubber Corp Ltd (ASX: DUB) up 308%
- Senetas Corporation Limited (ASX: SEN) up 213%
- Mobile Embrace Ltd (ASX: MBE) up 136%
In contrast, there have been very few technology stocks that have had a bad year, with the worst performer being Infomedia Limited (ASX: IFM) – down 44% in the last 12 months. Those are by no means all the companies performing well, but it does show the sector is hot right now.
It's clear that the revolution in technology is still ongoing, with strong tailwinds from consumer adoption, demand for data, security, newer software and apps, and more automated ways of going about some of our daily tasks and challenges.
In the US in particular, the number of rising technology companies is hard to keep track of. Australian software company Atlassian is set to list on the US NASDAQ exchange later this week and already expected to be valued at more than US$4 billion.
And the sector looks like its also set to receive a good kick along from Malcolm Turnbull's Federal government, with innovation tax breaks valued at $1.1 billion over four years, to drive an 'ideas boom' in Australia.
Foolish takeaway
Some of the companies mentioned above are still at a speculative stage of their early life. Some will fail while others may well go on to become the next 'Atlassian'. Foolish investors might want to dip a bit deeper into some of the shares mentioned above.
