About half of the ASX’s 240 or so tech stocks made gains over the past year.

Stand-outs included body-shape app Myfiziq (ASX:MYQ), online retailer Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW), crypto play DigitalX(ASX:DCC) and child-tracker MGM Wireless.

But which tech trends should investors be watching for the coming 12 months?

Funds manager Grant Samuels today highlighted five key areas tech investors should watch: digital enterprise, internet disruption, digital payments, e-commerce and the emerging consumer.

Chief investment officer with Munro Partners, Nick Griffin, said investors should note the increasing engagement consumers have with a fragmented media landscape – and the opportunities within

““The rise of digital advertising, mobile advertising, social media and video streaming has fragmented the traditional media landscape. It has provided structural growth opportunities for the likes of online platforms, premium content providers and product placement beneficiaries,” he said.

Many of these key investment areas relate to the rise of the fintech, as consumers become more eager to for seamless payment technologies and easier ways to invest. 

Tech stocks in the right spaces

On the digital enterprise front, there are a range of IT and software-as-a-service players in this space, from accounting platform Xero (ASX:XRO), up 83 per cent over the past 12 months, to HR business Elmo (ASX:ELO), up 150 per cent.

Internet disruption businesses are a top area of interest.

There are plenty of players on the bourse looking to play in this sphere, from nano-satellite communications provider Sky and Space Global (ASX:SAS), to smaller telcos like Spirit Telecom (ASX:ST1).

The fintech space has spawned a number of ASX listings in recent years, including the likes of millennial shopping platform Afterpay (ASX:APT), up 374 per cent over the past 12 months to sit at $14.08c this week.

The company told investors last week that close to $2.2 billion worth of transactions had been processed through its take-now-buy-later platform – a 289 per cent increase on last year.

Meanwhile, players like mobile payments business Peppermint Innovations (ASX:PIL), are also enjoying gains – in Peppermint’s case, up 222 per cent for the year.

Griffin pointed to the rise of digital and mobile advertising and how this is changing how consumers process and access information about brands.

E-commerce continues to evolve even as some consumers spend less in the face of slow wages growth.

There are plenty of different ASX companies in on this trend, too: from China daigou start-up AuMake (ASX:AU8) to pure play online retailers like Kogan (ASX:KGN) and even Afterpay, which relies on millennial’s affection for low cost consumer purchases.