Morningside Partners with Agora to Launch RTE 2020 Startup Competition, Hunting for the Next Real-Time Internet Unicorn | Light View

Recently, Agora and 5Y Capital jointly launched the "RTE 2020 Real-Time Internet Entrepreneurship Challenge" — the world's first startup competition focused on real-time internet. The goal is to identify companies and use cases globally that are innovating with real-time interaction technology.

Why launch this competition?

Agora founder and CEO Tony Zhao explained: "Over the years, we've seen that real-time internet has become an industry category in its own right. Agora is the technology enabler in this space, and our platform has given rise to countless innovative real-time interaction scenarios and companies. We hope this competition can contribute to the continued growth of the real-time internet innovation ecosystem."

As the pioneer of global real-time interaction cloud services, Agora became a $6 billion-plus global enterprise in just six years. On June 26 this year, Agora listed on the Nasdaq, becoming the first real-time interaction cloud company to go public on the exchange.

Agora invented real-time interaction cloud services (RTE PaaS) and remains the category's first mover, currently holding the top global market share. Agora's SDKs have empowered more than 100 scenarios across over 10 industries, including social livestreaming, online education, gaming and esports, IoT, AR/VR, finance, insurance, healthcare, and enterprise collaboration. From DouYu's livestream co-hosting to Momo's video social features, from VIPKID's one-on-one English tutoring to New Oriental's thousand-person lecture halls, from the recently buzzy U.S. virtual events platform Run The World to India's online meeting platform Airmeet... Agora's platform and innovative technology not only empower developers worldwide — it is the enabler of the real-time internet category itself.

"We're pleased to see that over the years of building our business, Agora has empowered and helped some promising startups grow. We're also glad to have 5Y Capital and MiraclePlus joining us in this competition, to help more outstanding developers and entrepreneurs understand and pay attention to the opportunities in real-time internet, and to use this opportunity to create something valuable."

5Y Capital, as the earliest investor to spot this category, has walked alongside Agora and is also a key driver of the real-time internet space. As Qin Liu, founding partner of 5Y Capital, put it: "We're delighted to have this opportunity to co-host this Real-Time Internet Entrepreneurship Challenge with Agora and MiraclePlus, with the hope of helping Chinese entrepreneurs explore various consumer and enterprise applications using real-time internet."

Additionally, the competition's strategic partner is MiraclePlus, an investment institution founded in 2018 by Dr. Qi Lu, former president and COO of Baidu, executive vice president of Microsoft, and executive vice president of Yahoo. Lu said: "MiraclePlus focuses on investing in and accelerating early-stage startups. We're very pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with Agora and 5Y Capital to discover entrepreneurs with growth potential and innovative capabilities in the real-time internet category, and to promote the development of the early-stage real-time internet innovation ecosystem." MiraclePlus's participation will undoubtedly bring new perspectives and more possibilities to competing entrepreneurs.

The 2020 Real-Time Internet Entrepreneurship Challenge is an innovation competition for global entrepreneurs, jointly initiated by an enabler and a driver.

So how will the competition work? And what incentives will it offer participating companies?

The inaugural RTE 2020 Real-Time Internet Entrepreneurship Challenge opened its recruitment channel on August 10. The recruitment period will last for over a month, giving global applicants ample time to register and prepare. The channel will close on September 18.

Specific eligibility requirements are as follows: For teams, applicants must be incorporated companies or teams with existing products and services. For industry focus, they must be startups using real-time interaction technology in their products, with no restrictions on specific industry or scenario. For funding stage, pre-funding companies through Series B (inclusive) are preferred.

For participating companies, the competition will provide resources, technology, platform access, and other forms of empowerment. High-quality companies that advance in the competition will receive substantial rewards.

Advancing companies will receive:

The "Agora Startup Program" benefits package, including 1 million free minutes, green-channel technical support, and a promotional marketing package;

For investment, advancing companies will gain access to tens of millions in investment opportunities from 5Y Capital, as well as training and mentorship from 5Y Capital's star investors;

For business development, advancing companies will have the opportunity to receive one-on-one guidance from Dr. Qi Lu of MiraclePlus, as well as potential investment and acceleration from MiraclePlus.

The finals of this year's competition will be held in Shanghai on October 24.

Want to learn more about eligibility requirements and how to apply? See the poster below and scan the QR code!

Who will be the next unicorn in the real-time internet category?

RTE 2020 Real-Time Internet Entrepreneurship Challenge —

Your move!

END

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5Y Capital is one of China's earliest venture capital firms focused on early-stage investing. It currently manages both USD and RMB funds, with assets under management totaling several billion dollars. Its limited partners include internationally renowned sovereign wealth funds, family offices, funds of funds, and university endowments.

Over nearly two decades of working together, 5Y Capital seeks out, supports, and inspires entrepreneurs who dare to go it alone, sharing their exceptional vision and providing our insights, industry experience, and support across all aspects of their journey — from the spiritual to the operational.

5Y Capital's successful investments include Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU), Trip.com Group (NASDAQ: CTRP), The9 (NASDAQ: NCTY), China Distance Education (NYSE: DL), Focus Media (SZ: 002027), Xunlei (NASDAQ: XNET), Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG), UCWeb (Alibaba, NYSE: BABA), JOYY (NASDAQ: YY), Didi Dache (DiDi), Musical.ly (ByteDance), NYSE: ZEPP (NYSE: HMI), TAL Education (NYSE: ONE), Huya (NYSE: HUYA), Xiaomi (HK: 0181), Viomi (NASDAQ: VIOT), Kingsoft Office (688111.SH), Lizhi (NASDAQ: LIZI.US), and Agora (NASDAQ: API). The portfolio also includes rapidly growing companies such as Kuaishou, WeDoctor, SenseTime, Xpeng Motors, Souche, Horizon Robotics, Bigo, Aihuishou, Xiaozhu, MaiMai, Smartmi, Pony.AI, and Keep.