2023 Spring Cohort Opens, Startup Partners Accelerate at "Supersonic" Speed
Innovation is the primary driver of growth.
In March, the spring cohort of the Supersonic Program welcomed a new batch of startup partners. This year, the program once again drew enthusiastic interest from entrepreneurs in the real-time interaction space, with over 200 companies applying and 14 ultimately accepted. The admitted startups cover areas including future of work, AIGC, and underlying metaverse technologies. Over the next three months, these companies will work alongside Agora, 5Y Capital, and partners across the RTE ecosystem to keep innovating on their entrepreneurial journey, achieving "supersonic" accelerated growth together and unlocking new value for industry scenarios.
This spring cohort's recruitment shows that new niche scenarios keep emerging on the RTE track. For instance, the convergence of generative AI and real-time interaction is coming into clearer focus; leisure and sports, marketing, and industrial scenarios are also exploring deep integration with real-time interaction as a key element. The opening ceremony on March 5 marked the official launch of the 2023 Supersonic Program. Staying true to its "startup for startup" principle, the ceremony was held at Vland Cloud — the permanent venue for Supersonic Program partners since fall 2021 — where participants moved around and mingled as avatars, while also opening audio and video to chat with fellow attendees.
At the opening ceremony, the program's co-founders Agora and 5Y Capital each shared remarks with the new cohort. Louisa, Partner and VP of Ecosystem at Agora, explained that the Supersonic Program aims to build an accelerator better suited to real-time interaction entrepreneurs, giving partners a stronger sense of belonging and fostering peer-to-peer networks. "Don't chase buzzwords, focus on long-term value" was Louisa's advice to the founders.
Levi, Partner at 5Y Capital, shared his observations on entrepreneurial trends: Chinese founders are highly capable and talented, but they also need to keep cultivating a global perspective, reject involution, and boost their capacity for innovation. Going forward, he hopes to bring more help and inspiration from strategy, creativity, and other angles.
2022 was a difficult year for entrepreneurs. What's encouraging is that many excellent founders persevered, and growing numbers are recognizing the long-term value that real-time interaction brings to their industries. "We're glad to see so many RTE-track startups applying for this spring's Supersonic Program. We'll stay true to our original mission, continuously iterating and improving our resources and services while maintaining quality control for each cohort — we won't pursue volume for its own sake, but will concentrate our energy and resources on providing full-ecosystem RTE acceleration support for our partners," said Yang Hui, head of Agora's ecosystem operations center.
(Caption: Spring cohort partners spontaneously dancing together on Vland) Taking 2022 as an example, over the past year the Supersonic Program connected partners with over 180 opportunities spanning industrial demand, government resources, and media collaborations, while also expanding its own ecosystem to attract strong partners like HTC ViveX and XNode in industry and incubation, jointly providing founders with rich, practical resources to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and grow their businesses rapidly.
Meanwhile, against the backdrop of the going-global wave, entrepreneurs' demand for overseas expansion tools and resources has grown steadily. The Supersonic Program has continued to expand its roster of international partners, launching an Overseas Guidebook to provide more comprehensive support for founders. Beyond strategic partnership discounts, there are exclusive consulting sessions on going global — from early-stage Southeast Asian market environment analysis and global frontier trend insights, to later-stage marketing growth, ad placement, and refined operations analysis — all in one "supersonic" package. The Supersonic Program uses rolling admissions; even outside recruitment periods, you can reach out to be considered for the next cohort. We welcome you to get in touch!
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