Agora.io turned hard-to-build live video into a global SDK

Agora.io entered a market where apps wanted live video and voice, but building a reliable network was expensive and difficult. The company described four barriers: bandwidth cost, latency and quality, uneven mobile connections, and support for many devices and operating systems.

Its decision was to own the hard parts and sell them as an SDK. Agora built proprietary audio and video codecs to reduce bandwidth, algorithms that could keep video usable through 50–60% packet loss, and a globally distributed data-center network rather than asking each customer to build those capabilities.

The platform turned technical complexity into distribution. By the time of the Series B extension announcement, the SDK had been installed on more than half a billion mobile devices through customers, and 200 data centers carried more than 10 billion minutes of streaming communication each month. The company had more than 200 employees across Beijing, Shanghai, and Santa Clara.

The SDK reached more than 500 million devices, while its 200 data centers handled over 10 billion minutes of streaming communication per month.

High-definition video consumed bandwidth and made a proprietary network expensive for each app maker.

Latency, packet loss, device fragmentation, and operating-system differences made a one-off integration hard to scale.

A shared SDK let Agora spread the cost of its codecs and data-center network across many customers.

For a hard infrastructure problem, a reusable SDK can turn reliability and scale into the product instead of leaving every app team to rebuild the stack.

The extension took Series B to $50 million and total known venture funding to $55 million. Customers included Xiaomi, Momo, and Hike; the company was beginning to court strategic investors and planned a Series C. Its network was positioned for gaming, livestreaming, and messaging beyond its initial customer base.