The ASX tech share space is a great place to find growth shares that may be able to beat the market over the long-term.
One of the great things about technology businesses is that they usually have a high gross profit margin, which can lift the other profit margins including the operating profit (EBITDA) margin and the net profit after tax (NPAT) margin, as the business grows.
I'm going to talk about two businesses I've admired for a while and are definitely worth putting on a watchlist.
Airtasker Ltd (ASX: ART)
Airtasker describes itself as Australia's leading online marketplace for local services, connecting people and businesses who need work done with people who want to work. It says it has put more than $650 million into the pockets of workers (after all fee revenue is deducted) and served more than 1.8 million unique paying customers across the world.
The business is growing at a very solid pace. In the third quarter of FY25, Airtasker marketplace revenue increased 15.8% year over year, with Australian revenue rising 10.6% to $10.8 million.
UK revenue jumped 153.2% to £355,000, with brand investment through Channel 4, as well as accelerating traction in Birmingham and Manchester. USA revenue surged 399% to US$86,000 thanks to advertising partnerships with TelevisaUnivision, iHeartMedia, Sinclair and Mercurius during the quarter, as well as new city launches in Austin and Las Vegas.
Pleasingly, the ASX tech share's 'established marketplaces' delivered positive EBITDA of $6 million in the FY25 third quarter. After covering all global head office expenditure, the established marketplaces delivered positive Australian net EBITDA of $1.5 million.
I'm expecting good things from the business. If it can continue growing revenue, the high gross profit margin should help profit flow through the business. In the FY25 first half period, it achieved a gross profit margin of 95.7%, which is really impressive.
I think this ASX tech share could become much larger in the coming years.
TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)
TechnologyOne describes itself as Australia's largest enterprise software company and one of Australia's top 100 ASX-listed companies, with locations in six countries. It provides a global software as a service (SaaS) enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that makes life simple for customers by being easy to use and it's available anywhere and any time.
Impressively, it has more than 1,300 leading businesses, government agencies, local councils and universities are powered by its software.
In this uncertain time, TechnologyOne says that the markets it serves are resilient and it provides mission-critical software. The company says its customers have independently-verified cost savings of at least 40% by moving to SaaS.
The company said it will continue to benefit from improving margins of the significant economics of scale from its global SaaS solution. The business has a long-term target of at least $1 billion of annual recurring revenue (ARR) by FY30.
For some time, it has a goal of doubling in size every five years. This is largely achieved by growing revenue from its existing client base by 15% per year. But investing significantly in research and development every year, the company is able to provide a better offering for customers.
I'm particularly excited by the company's small, but rapidly-expanding UK division. In FY24, the UK business achieved total ARR growth of 31% to $34.7 million. The ASX tech share said it has a strong pipeline in the UK. The education sector is also a large area that TechnologyOne could grow significantly.
