Agora, Inc. (NASDAQ: API), a real-time engagement API provider, today announced steep growth across its customer base in Q2 driven by increased demand for real-time engagement (RTE) technology. Agora, with dual headquarters in Santa Clara, California and Shanghai, China, grew its customer base by 85.5 percent year-over-year as of June 2020, and it serves customers in more than 100 countries around the world through more than 10,000 active applications.
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New Agora customers built features like audio and video live streaming into applications even as COVID-19-related social distancing requirements eased. Real-time engagement technology rapidly reached widespread adoption as companies shifted critical business functions to the virtual world. Sources like Gartner report 74% of CFOs plan to shift some employees to remote work permanently post-pandemic, making virtual experiences an integral common part of modern daily life.
“At Agora, it’s our goal to make real-time engagement ubiquitous so people can connect from anywhere, at any time in ways that capture meaningful human interactions,” said Reggie Yativ, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Revenue Officer at Agora Lab, Inc. “We continue to see interest in RTE and real growth on a global scale from customers across sectors like education and gaming. This reflects a larger cultural shift towards richer virtual interactions in our personal and professional lives, both to create better online experiences, but also to innovate in the new business landscape.”
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In Q2, Agora inked new partnerships with industry leaders in IT, social gaming, online dating, and more. Partners turned to Agora to create unique use cases like:
- Online Learning:
- Applejax makes it easy for parents to find quality teachers for tutoring and pod-based learning. Quality education needs good teachers, that is why 100% of Applejax’s teachers are credentialed. Applejax partnered with Agora to develop virtual whiteboards and real-time engagement via video between teachers and students. Both features play an integral role in collaborative learning ensuring your child is learning at the highest level.
- PandaTree, a remote language tutoring service, tapped Agora’s SDKs to improve business continuity and ensure streaming quality for its virtual tutoring sessions. With Agora’s SDK in place, PandaTree scaled to meet a 300% increase in user demand when shelter-in-place measures were first enacted. Agora’s network, which delivers extremely low latency, also enabled tutors to host innovative lessons with shared real-time visuals and engagement.
- Streamed Fitness Experiences:
- MixPose used Agora’s API to build live streaming into its platform for yoga instructors leading real-time classes, allowing instructors and viewers to capture the experience of a guided session. Agora’s video SDK pairs with MixPose’s AI functions to evaluate the yoga poses of participants, helping to offer guidance and track progress.
- Socializing While Distanced:
- VirtualTaproom pioneered the application of video chat to connect craft beer enthusiasts for networking and virtual brewery experiences. With Agora, VirtualTaproom took the craft beer tasting experience online with live-streaming virtual “taprooms,” digital “tipping” and other interactive features. In connection with this year’s Craft Beer Professionals Virtual Conference, VirtualTaproom welcomed 5,000 attendees to a virtual afterparty and trade show.
- Sesh used Agora’s RTE technology to build a unique video app for free-flowing group hangouts and personal safety. Sesh allows users to spontaneously start, join or watch video hangouts on their private groups in an organic and flexible manner. Additionally, the “Safety Sesh” feature allows users to easily broadcast their live video and location to their preselected safety contacts in times of perceived danger or insecurity.
- Remote Collaboration:
- VirBELA, an immersive platform that offers virtual campuses for offices and educational institutions, is redefining the future of business, events and education with Agora’s RTE capabilities. Using 3D technology, VirBELA creates dynamic virtual campuses that allow groups of people to engage in real-time through avatars.
- Immersive Virtual Events:
- InEvent used Agora’s SDKs to add real-time engagement features to its platform, which provides a no-code way to create immersive virtual event experiences complete with live-streamed speaking sessions. InEvent’s engaging, easy-to-use platform provides a virtual solution for summits and conferences derailed by social distancing restrictions.
Agora partners receive 10,000 free minutes of use each month hosted on Agora’s proprietary Software-Defined Real-Time Network (SD-RTN™), which delivers extremely low latency and high availability. This flexible pricing model allows Agora to scale with its customers, making Agora easy to seamlessly build into digital strategies.
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