Silicon Valley-based Real-Time Engagement Platform Agora.io Targets US IPO
Chinese real-time engagement platform Agora.io has planned its U.S. IPO with the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Wang Jingbo from Qutoutiao leading the planning process, according to the Chinese financial news outlet The Latest IPO.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley and founded by former Chinese social media giant YY’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Tony Zhao, Agora.io received a $70 million cross-border investment from New York hedge fund Coatue Management, along with funding from SIG Asia Investment, Chinese investors Morningside Capital and Xiaomi’s venture capital company Shunwei Capital in 2018.
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With a dedicated network and device-optimized Software Development Kit (SDKs), Agora is a voice, video and live interactive streaming platform designed to cross borders and reach users on low-bandwidth networks or on lower-powered devices. The real-time engagement technology uses real-time voice and video services to create offline communication. As a developer, it could connect to Agora’s Application Programming Interface (API) in a short time, and apply it to scenarios such as video communication, interaction-broadcasts, online gaming voices, and AR cooperation.
Recently, Agora saw tremendous growth during the first quarter of 2020, including a 300 percent increase in developer sign-ups from a year ago, as well as a 60 percent increase in overall network usage. The company’s software defined dedicated network saw more than 40 billion minutes of live interactive video and voice content per month, and that number continues to grow.
