Although the Australian share market doesn't boast any global technology companies like Google, Apple or Microsoft, local investors still have a pretty big choice of fast growing tech companies they can choose from.
Most of them reside in the small-to-mid cap space, but that doesn't mean investors should just put them to one side.
Four of my favourite tech shares to keep an eye on right now include:
Emerchants Ltd (ASX: EML)
Emerchants operates in the fast-growing prepaid card and virtual payments markets. It already has around 850 programs in place across 13 countries, and its most recent first-half result showed an impressive 207% increase in revenue. The company is still in the early stages of profitability, but already has a market capitalisation of $378 million. As a result, I wouldn't rush out to buy the shares today as much of the company's future growth appears to have been priced in already.
Afterpay Holdings Ltd (ASX: AFY)
Afterpay's latest market update was impressive, but its proposed merger with Touchcorp Ltd (ASX: TCH) has created some uncertainty in regards to how the combined entity will emerge. Nonetheless, the payments company remains a share to watch as it continues to sign up some of the biggest retail companies at a very impressive rate.
Smart Parking Ltd (ASX: SPZ)
Smart Parking is involved in the design, development and management of parking technology. The uptake of the company's products has been promising, and although it recently recorded its first ever positive NPAT result, I would still classify Smart Parking as a speculative investment. Nonetheless, it could be worth a much closer look, especially if it can continue to win new installation contracts.
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)
Many regular Fool readers will be familiar with Altium and there is a good reason for this. The electronics design software company has delivered exceptionally strong results over the past five years which has seen its shares rise by more than 4,000% in that time. More importantly, there is still a lot of growth left in Altium and it is one of the few technology shares that actually offers a decent dividend yield.
