A Run$-$Down of $40$ Tech Companies "Beating the West"

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I$\text{'}$m really enjoying the online news outlet Rest of World for its focus on technology outside of North America and Europe. This rundown of non$-$Western tech companies is a good example of how companies based in developing countries often beat American or European firms $($and in some cases expand to global scale from there$).40$ global technology companies beating their Western rivals $-$ Rest of World

One thing that sticks out to me is the number of companies on this list that find their initial foothold by tailoring their product to local customers in a way that foreign companies fail to account for. Good examples include:

M$-$Pesa $($Kenya$),$ the one, the only, the icon of peer$-$to$-$peer payments that predated Venmo and is built on the SMS$-$only phones that a lot of Kenyans had in the $2000$s and $2010$s$.$

Getir $($Turkiye$),$ a delivery service that can get things to customers in under $10$ minutes. The company is making moves in downtown Boston, but its initial competitive advantage was building an in$-$house GIS $($geographic information system$)$ map of its native Istanbul.

Zalo $($Vietnam$),$ which is The Biggest messaging app in the country $($beating out Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp$),$ and got its edge early by giving customers what they wanted. In Zalo's case, it was instant high$-$quality photo sharing.