[Explanation] The Internet industry is showing a trend of "online and offline integration", and real-time interconnection and interaction have become a trend and necessity for online. From the initial text and pictures to audio and video, to the latest online real-time interaction, real-time The Internet is presented to people as a brand new track.

And Agora, established in 2014, is the leader of this track.

The goal of its founder, Zhao Bin, is to make real-time interaction, like water and air, an indispensable existence in people's lives in the future.

　　When Agora was founded, Zhao Bin had already passed the age of no confusion. From the perspective of outsiders, Zhao Bin at this time had some "axes".

Few people understood the real-time interactive technology advocated by Zhao Bin at that time.

Zhao Bin emphasized on more than one occasion that real-time interaction is essentially not a function, but a service.

Perhaps only Zhao Bin himself can explain this sentence clearly in a thousand words.

Until 2017, Shengwang's revenue was very small.

　　[Concurrent] Zhao Bin, founder and CEO of Agora

　　This actually took a long time from the beginning, and we are at a relatively pure investment stage.

So a lot of energy and resources have been invested, and the basis is that a lot of time is spent on continuously optimizing algorithms, programs, and network deployment.

Then the demand actually lingers for a long time.

　　[Explanation] Zhao Bin recalled that it was indeed a bit "stressful" at the time because the company had not made any progress.

An investor once suggested that Zhao Bin do video conferencing, but Zhao Bin refused. He didn't do the application. He insisted on the infrastructure behind the application.

Finally, on June 26, 2020, the sound network ushered in its own bright moment. On this day, the sound network Agora was officially listed on the Nasdaq in the United States. (Equivalent to 35.73 billion yuan) has become the top ten Internet company in Shanghai by market value, and has become the "first global real-time interactive cloud."

　　As for the future of the real-time Internet industry, Zhao Bin believes that it is still at a relatively early stage and there is still a huge market space in the future.

　　[Concurrent] Zhao Bin, founder and CEO of Agora

　　It is to rely on this technology platform to continue to maintain normal operation. This is the opportunity we see.

We feel that in this industry and direction, there will be more room and demand for this kind of development in the future.

Although the epidemic is gradually recovering, the convenience and efficiency that this technology can bring to people’s lives is not necessarily the cause of the epidemic in many cases, but may be due to other reasons, because of distance and time. You must be able to participate in certain activities or carry out certain tasks in a timely manner, so through this technology, you can still improve people's flexibility and efficiency.

　　[Explanation] In addition to the online education, social live broadcast, video conference and other fields that are often encountered in daily life, in fact, real-time interaction can empower more scenarios.

Zhao Bin said that 5G technology also opens up more room for imagination, making many things that were impossible in the past possible.

　　[Concurrent] Zhao Bin, founder and CEO of Agora

　　For example, like the popularization of 5G, there are more and more such things to do online together, right?

For example, self-study together, and then KTV together, etc. these scenes happen, then we think that combined with this further purification of technology, there are some new, such as AI algorithms, which can be widely used in this implementation technology to improve each Experience under the scene.

　　[Explanation] In addition, Zhao Bin believes that real-time interaction is currently more concentrated in large cities and first-tier cities, but this trend will certainly continue to spread to remote areas, so that underdeveloped areas or students can also enjoy high-quality teaching resources.

　　Zhang Jian Shanghai Report

Editor in charge: [Liu Xian]