One of the best performers on the S&P/ASX 200 index in 2019 has been the Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price with an incredible 83% gain.
Investors have been scrambling to get hold of the market darling's shares after it delivered an impressive full year result.
In FY 2018 Appen delivered a 119% increase in revenue to $364.3 million and a 148% lift in underlying net profit after tax to $49 million. This was driven by the accelerating AI market and the high and growing demand for quality training data.
This strong share price gain means that the Appen market capitalisation now stands at approximately $2.8 billion.
But Appen wasn't always a multi-billion-dollar company. In fact, only four years ago the company was valued at around $150 million. Which means its long term shareholders have been rewarded handsomely.
Unfortunately, Appen is unlikely to grow at the same level over the next four years. So, if you're looking for returns like this then you might want to check out some of the exciting small cap tech shares trading on the ASX.
Three small caps to watch are:
Audinate (ASX: AD8)
Audinate is a provider of digital Audio-Visual networking technologies and the company behind the award-winning Dante audio over IP networking solution. Strong demand for its product led to a 60% increase in revenue to $14.2 million during the first half of FY 2019.
LiveTiles Ltd (ASX: LVT)
LiveTiles is a digital workplace platform provider working closely with global tech giant Microsoft. In the first half of FY 2019 the company posted a 232% increase in annualised recurring revenue (ARR) to $22.9 million. Management expects this strong growth to continue and is targeting an ARR of $100 million by the end of June 2021.
Volpara Health Technologies Ltd (ASX: VHT)
Volpara is a medical technology company providing software that uses AI imaging algorithms to assist in the early detection of breast cancer. Demand for its offering has been growing strongly in recent years, leading to the company growing its share of the U.S. breast screening market to 7%. I believe the quality of its product, the expansion of its salesforce, and favourable regulatory changes could lead to a sizeable increase in its market share.
