Cloud Communications Company Agora Raises $70 Million To Accelerate Market Expansion The company plans to use funds to expand its solutions and services to new markets and industry verticals

By Nidhi Singh

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Pixabay

Cloud-based communication services have transformed the way we do business. The innumerable benefits of cloud technology are getting a lot of attention from startups and investors.

Voice, video and live broadcasting platform Agora.io, is the latest entrant to join this investment bandwagon. The cloud communications company announced that it has closed $70 million in a Series C round of funding led by Coatue Management, a technology sector hedge fund whose recent investments include Uber, SnapChat, Box.com, Lime, DoorDash, and more.

The round also saw participation from existing investors SIG, Morningside, and Shunwei Capital, bringing Agora's total capital raised to $125 million.

Expanding Services To New Markets

Founded in 2014 by Tony Zhao, a founding engineer at WebEx Communications (acquired by Cisco) and former chief technology officer of Chinese social media giant YY.com, Agora is the leading provider of real-time communications (RTC) solutions for web and mobile applications.

The company, which has offices in Santa Clara and Shanghai, also recently announced a wave of seasoned leadership hires to fill key management roles across business, product and sales to support the growth. Agora will use the new capital to expand its solutions and services to new markets and industry verticals.

The Growth Journey

Agora's suite of application programming interfaces (APIs) lets developers embed live voice, video and broadcasting functionality into existing applications and platforms with a few lines of code and no upfront costs. The Series C investment follows an explosive year for the company as it experiences rapid growth. Agora recently passed two billion SDK (software development kit ) installs to make it one of the most widely adopted RTC-based developer solutions globally. The company's proprietary Software-Defined Real-Time Network processes and routes an average of 10 billion minutes of live communications every month through 200 globally distributed data centres for customers including The Meet Group, Xiaomi, Hike Messenger, Momo, and more.

"The Internet has steadily transformed the way people communicate over the last decade, but these interactions will continue to shift as technology advances at a rapid pace. We are creating a new category of real-time communications that puts engagement at the core of the user experience, and we will continue leveraging our unique technology and global reach to further transform the space," says Tony Zhao, founder and chief executive officer of Agora.

The New Era of App-based Communication

Accelerated by the proliferation of mobile devices and internet connectivity across the globe, Agora is aiming to power a new era of app-based communications with developer tools that unlock new layers of audience and user engagement through the use of real-time voice and video.

In addition to its flagship Voice & Video SDK, which powers voice and video calling, group conferencing and interactive broadcasting functionality, the company recently released products like AMG SDK, a standalone solution for game developers, and React Native SDK, an open source developer toolset that enables cross-platform building using the React Native framework.

Nidhi Singh

Former Correspondent, Entrepreneur Asia-Pacific

A self confessed Bollywood Lover, Travel junkie and Food Evangelist.I like travelling and I believe it is very important to take ones mind off the daily monotony .

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Marketing

Content Marketing Trends for 2020: Are we ready?

With every click on the keyboard, there is content being added to this virtual infinite universe that is being created, trillions of pieces of content get created every day

Business News

Here's How Much a Typical Google Employee Makes in a Year

Compensation for the median Google employee was up 5% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Growing a Business

7 AI Tools That Help You Build a One-Person Business — and Make Money While You Sleep

Who needs a team? These seven AI tools let you automate everything, scale like a beast and reclaim your time.

Leadership

What Makes You a Unicorn in Your Industry? Start by Mastering These 4 Pillars

We all want to achieve elusive unicorn status. But how do you attain such a lofty goal among stiff competition, all vying for the same thing?

Money & Finance

5 Money Habits That Separate Successful Entrepreneurs From Struggling Ones

Learn how successful entrepreneurs manage cash flow, invest wisely and build long-term financial stability.