Deloitte Fast 50 awards: Kiwi NFT company, VeVe Digital, enabling comic book reading online takes top spot

New Zealand’s fastest-growing privately owned business has sold 8 million digital collectables online, also known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

VeVe Digital’s 1239 per cent revenue growth over a three-year period saw it take out the
top spot at the annual Deloitte Fast 50 awards on Thursday evening in Auckland.

VeVe’s app allows users to read comic books online and buy, trade or play with digital copies of collectable statues or artworks of popular franchise characters, such as Disney and Marvel.

Its limited-edition released collectables depicted characters such as Spider-Man, Darth Vader, Green Lantern and the Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse “Partners” statue, according to its website.

Collectables on its app were ranked from “common” to “ultra-rare” or “secret-rare”, with the latter fetching prices in the thousands.

Its app is used globally, with 35 per cent of its users located in the United States and 40 per cent in the United Kingdom and Europe.

It’s been a memorable month for VeVe’s Auckland-based founder David Yu, who was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 last week.

Other fast-growing businesses that topped the Deloitte awards were recruitment firm Hirestaff, with 834 per cent revenue growth over the judged period, Optimal Clinical Trials with 782 per cent, power retailer Nau Mai Rā with 727 per cent and tax software business Hnry with 608 per cent.

Recruitment was clearly a high-growth theme recognised across the awards, with IT recruitment company Younity winning the Master of Growth index, which spanned revenue growth over five years, with a 627 per cent result.

Volpara Health Technologies and Consult Recruitment followed with 600 per cent and 543 per cent growth respectively.

“It hasn’t been an easy year for the economy, but faced with difficult times, these organisations have managed to thrive,” Deloitte private partner James Arlidge said in a press release outlining the winners.

“The mix of industries on the indices this year is also a marker of conditions during the three-year revenue period, as we’ve seen more construction companies featured than technology ones, which is a huge variance [from] previous years.”

Arlidge said more food and beverage companies entered the awards this year compared with previous years, reflecting consumer trends.

To catch the pulse of private business challenges, Deloitte asked businesses entering the Fast 50 and Master of Growth awards for their top three concerns.

Government regulation was the most popular concern, followed by domestic competition and interest rates.

Madison Reidy is the host of New Zealand’s only financial markets show, Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment, and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters.