Agora went public under the ticker API, which is exactly what it sold. Its software interface let any app add live voice and video, from online classrooms to dating apps to games. Founder Tony Zhao had been chief technology officer at YY, a Chinese live-streaming company. Agora filed to go public in June 2020, three months into the pandemic, when the whole world had moved its classes, meetings, and parties onto video calls.

The Hard Part of Real Time

Zhao founded Agora in 2014 with offices in Shanghai and Silicon Valley. Live video is hard to get right over shaky networks. Agora built its own global network to carry audio and video with little delay, and charged developers by the minute. The bet was that most apps would want live features but few would want to build the plumbing. Early customers included Chinese education and social apps. In 2021 the audio chat app Clubhouse ran on Agora's technology.

More Than Double on Day One

Agora priced its American depositary shares at $20 on June 25, 2020, above its range, and raised $350 million. They opened at $45 on Nasdaq the next day, more than double the offer price. The stock climbed further during the Clubhouse craze, then fell as Chinese regulators cracked down on online tutoring, a key market. Agora now runs two divisions: Agora for global customers and Shengwang for China. It still trades on Nasdaq under API.

Cover: The Acropolis of Athens, Théodore Caruelle d' Aligny. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for the Acropolis above the Athenian agora.