US' Agora.io Creates Roadmap For Asia Expansion The cloud communications company has formalized a strategic partnership with Mech Mocha, an India-focused digital entertainment startup
By Nidhi Singh
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Many of global startups have begun expansion in the Indian ecosystem. Multiple factors make this country the best startup paradise. Tony Zhao, founder and chief executive officer of Agora.io, a voice, video and live broadcasting platform, believes the same.
"India presents a huge market opportunity for Agora.io because there are an estimated 420 million mobile internet users, a figure that's on the rise. These mobile-first consumers are driving unprecedented demand for both global and localized mobile platforms and applications across all industries, including social entertainment, gaming, IoT, telehealth, and much more," shared Zhao.
The cloud communications company, which has offices in Santa Clara and Shanghai, recently announced its expansion into India and the surrounding regions. In tandem with the local expansion, Agora.io has formalized a strategic partnership with Mech Mocha, an India-focused digital entertainment startup that creates live interactive mobile experiences for vernacular audience.
"Our platform already supports users globally, including in India, but we're building out a local team to nurture the local developer ecosystem. Agora.io's local team will give developers and product owners on-the-ground support to help bring ideas to reality," added Zhao.
Tapping the Indian Market
The new partnership with Mech Mocha allows Agora.io to tap into the Indian market's growing demands for local interactive entertainment apps and mobile games. Backed by global venture capital firms Accel Partners, Shunwei Capital, Blume Ventures, and others, Mech Mocha develops mobile entertainment platforms that utilize in-app voice and video chat to introduce an interactive social layer to the user experience.
As Mech Mocha expands its product portfolio, Agora.io will be the exclusive provider of real-time engagement solutions, such as voice and video chat, group conferencing, and live broadcasting.
"We're incredibly excited to partner with Agora.io at such a critical juncture for Mech Mocha. Not only does Agora.io consistently deliver high-quality communications for our users despite the challenges of India's network connectivity, but they also have a dedicated local team that has been invaluable as we push mobile boundaries with innovative new features," said Arpita Kapoor, Co-founder, and Chief Executive Officer of Mech Mocha.
As part of the partnership, Agora.io powers live voice chat for Mech Mocha's latest mobile hit, Hello Ludo. Based on a popular local Indian board game, Hello Ludo lets players chat with each other in real time while they compete to win.
Significant Traction in Bengaluru
Agora.io's target customers are product owners and developers across all industries, but the platform delivers high-quality, low latency voice, video, and interactive broadcasting to end users across the globe through its apps.
"We process over 12 billion minutes a month for users across over 100 countries, so our customers and end users are quite diverse ̶ but our highest concentration of customers is in North America, Europe, and Asia. Right now, Bangalore, where our partner Mech Mocha is located, is where we're seeing the most traction, which is not surprising since it is considered by many to be the "Silicon Valley of India," he emphasized.
