It is worth remembering that all companies start somewhere and don't become blue chips overnight.
Two ASX shares that are at the start of their journeys are listed below. Here's what has investors watching them closely:
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8)
Audinate is a $545 million digital audio-visual networking technologies provider. It is best known for its industry-leading Dante audio over IP networking solution. This product is used widely across a number of industries and has begun to dominate its market.
Management recently revealed that the number of Dante enabled products manufactured by its customers has grown to 2,804. This is a massive eight times greater than its nearest rival.
And while 2020 has been tough for Audinate because of the pandemic, its performance has started to improve now and 2021 looks set to be a much stronger year.
It was partly because of this that analysts at UBS currently have a buy rating and $8.00 price target on its shares. This compares to the current Audinate share price of $7.18.
Whispir (ASX: WSP)
Whispir is a $330 million software-as-a-service communications workflow platform provider. Its platform automates communications between businesses and their workers and customers.
This allows users to improve their communications through automated workflows that ensure stakeholders receive accurate, timely, useful, and actionable insights. An example of this was the government's use of its platform to distribute COVID-19 updates during the pandemic.
Whispir was a very strong performer in FY 2020. For the 12 months ended 30 June 2020, it posted a 25.5% increase in revenue to $39.1 million and ARR growth of 34% to $42.2 million. Pleasingly, its positive form has continued in FY 2021, with the company's ARR lifting to $43.7 million at the end of September.
This is still only a very small slice of a Workflow Communications platform as a Service market which management estimates could reach US$8 billion per year by 2024.
