The Future of Real-Time Interaction Is in Your Hands | "Supersonic Program" Recruitment Ongoing
Real-time interactive technology is changing our world.
Real-time interaction technology is reshaping our world, transforming how people connect with each other and with the world around them. On the real-time interaction track, Agora has not only continuously innovated its own products to empower developers, but has also worked to help entrepreneurs build and innovate at low cost and high efficiency — accompanying their real-time interaction dreams from seed to sprout to fruit. As one of Agora's early investors, 5Y Capital has also been a driving force behind this effort; discovering more innovative companies is a shared goal for us both.
Recently, Agora joined hands with 5Y Capital and other ecosystem partners to launch the "Supersonic Program," an initiative to help startups in the real-time interaction space accelerate their growth. This isn't our first foray into this area. Last year, Agora and 5Y Capital hosted the Real-Time Internet Entrepreneurship Challenge and workshop, where we formed meaningful connections with several outstanding entrepreneurs.
Why start a business in real-time interaction? Here's what they have to say:
In today's social landscape, voice has become the core medium. Among post-95s and Gen Z, Siri usage exceeds 60%. Meanwhile, popular social apps are shifting from text-and-image to video and voice — think Houseparty, Soul, and others. Users increasingly favor immersive product interactions. Scene-based social experiences like Fortnite, Animal Crossing, Roblox, Party Animals, and party games have taken the world by storm. Young people today are passionate about virtual idols, face customization, and interactive content creation. They have a stronger desire for self-expression and gravitate toward personalized content. As needs evolve across age groups, technological revolutions in devices and upgrades in interactive experiences will create massive platform-level opportunities. That's what we're building — Oasis is the new social network for virtual worlds.
Raymond, Partner at Oasis OASIS, winner of the RTE2020 Entrepreneurship Challenge
Founder Jeff's firsthand experience: "The biggest takeaway from participating in Agora's RTE2020 Entrepreneurship Challenge was the opportunity to exchange ideas with fellow entrepreneurs working on cutting-edge applications — exploring how new technologies can deliver fresh value to users." It was a memorable experience, and the resources and support from Agora and partner companies helped us go further on our path toward the future.
Why did we build VIPsing? The core value of an education company lies in producing its own curriculum — R&D is the lifeblood. Practice coaching doesn't produce curriculum; it's a service, an educational service, but the value of human matching has a ceiling. R&D is life. For piano and classical instruments, teaching methods are already mature; there's no point in trying to create a curriculum that surpasses them. Because I wanted to build curriculum, I believed vocal music could become the most accessible and universal category of music education — suitable for almost everyone. Our vision is that every child can sing joyfully and learn music.
Yanshu Shen, Founder of VIPsing, second-place winner of the RTE2020 Entrepreneurship Challenge
Bestow Cloud Classroom's message: "Finding mentors and friends, feeling the passion of entrepreneurship"
Bestow Cloud Classroom, Special Prize winner of the RTE2020 Entrepreneurship Challenge
So, where can you meet these partners? The Supersonic Program awaits!
What is the Supersonic Program?
The Supersonic Program is a startup acceleration initiative launched by Agora and 5Y Capital. Over the course of a three-month acceleration camp, Agora will join forces with top-tier investment institutions, multinational corporate venture ecosystems, cloud marketplace partners, and other forces within the Agora ecosystem to provide entrepreneurs with startup courses and peer cohorts, free ecosystem product packages, technical support, investment consulting, and other resources. Based on criteria of scenario innovation and long-term value, the program will use interactive communities and entrepreneurship competitions to empower developers to build and innovate at lower cost and higher efficiency — jointly defining and expanding the real-time interaction track, driving scenario innovation across industries, and creating long-term value for all sectors.
Exclusive Acceleration Package: Helping Startup Teams Grow at "Supersonic" Speed
Featured Peer Cohort Courses + Buddy System
From industry case studies to product practice, from culture to governance, the Supersonic Program's curriculum covers every headache an early-stage startup team might face. Beyond the courses, the standout feature of the acceleration camp is the "Agora Buddy" system — product and technical experts from across the ecosystem will join the cohort to engage with entrepreneurs up close and co-create. The format will also include immersive team-building activities and site visits to deepen connections among cohort teams, so you'll have more like-minded partners to journey with on the real-time interaction track.
Buddy System: Frontline staff from Agora's SA, product, technical, and strategic ecosystem teams, plus KOL friends who have long accompanied Agora in the industry, will participate in every offline discussion session and regularly hold office hours during the cohort period — ready to address any questions that arise as entrepreneurs grow.
Acceleration Camp Partner Benefits
1. Agora Startup Fellows Welcome Package (available to all 20 teams entering the acceleration camp)
- Supersonic Program Special Package
- 1 million minutes of free real-time audio and video call support
- Free access to 50+ partner offerings
- Close exchange opportunities with Agora experts and the entrepreneur community
- Agora startup ecosystem's exclusive pathway system — recommendations to top accelerator programs, direct green-channel access to Google, Microsoft, and AWS startup programs
- Investment opportunities from Agora CVC and other funds; at least one one-on-one VC consulting session per team
- Pitch opportunity at the RTE Startup Day (20 teams narrowed to 8)
- Exhibition exposure at the RTE Conference Startup Zone
- Lifetime Agora Startup Fellows alumni benefits, including long-term technical communication and support, community perks and events, talent development, referral rewards, and industry updates
2. RTE Startup Day Pitch (final 8 teams selected)
- Compete for multiple awards established by Agora, 5Y Capital, GGV, Chaoyang District, and Yangpu District; top three teams have the opportunity to receive million-dollar investments from 5Y Capital
- Access to 8+ top-tier VCs, government incubation and landing opportunities
- Full-channel exposure at the RTE Conference
- Promotion opportunities on Agora's Cloud Marketplace 3.0
Some government acceleration package benefits are subject to policy eligibility requirements
For more details on the Supersonic Program schedule and project selection criteria, see our previous article -->
Agora x 5Y Capital: "Supersonic Program" Entrepreneur Recruitment Now Open | Exploring New Real-Time Interaction Scenarios
Register for the Supersonic Program
Scan the QR code below or click "Read More" to fill out the registration form
Registration deadline: August 6, 2021 For inquiries: startup@agora.io (please include 【Inquiry】 in the subject line)
In Supporting Real-Time Interaction Entrepreneurship
We Have Always Been Working at It
We believe the word Agora refers to a place where people live their public lives. In such places, every aspect of social life has the opportunity to be moved online through real-time interaction technology — ushering in a new era of online living. Preserving people's most natural models of interaction and collaboration in real-time online is actually an inherently massive need. When human collaboration online shifts from relatively asynchronous methods like email and consumption to real-time communication, interaction, and working and socializing together as if offline, it represents another massive disruption and transformation of the online living experience.
Tony Zhao, Founder & CEO of Agora
Agora embedded the API concept into the cloud computing development environment, simplifying development and operations so entrepreneurs can focus more of their energy on innovation and creation — exploring diverse application scenarios on the front end. As an early investor in Agora's Series A, 5Y Capital has grown alongside Agora all along, because we were moved by the vision Tony laid out back then. This vision aligns with both the broader trend in computer architecture and the massive trend-driven opportunities facing Chinese entrepreneurs today. From any angle, Agora is playing a catalytic role — helping more entrepreneurs under this vision, and through our capital attention, integrating and accelerating the development of the entire real-time internet ecosystem.
Qin Liu, Founding Partner of 5Y Capital
Beyond this, more partners have joined the journey to support innovation in real-time interaction through concrete action.
Supersonic Program Partners
Co-initiators:
Fund Partners:
Government Partners:
Media Partners:
If you're exploring and innovating in real-time interaction scenarios — in technology, in applications — and believe in the long-term value of real-time interaction, don't hesitate to join. On your entrepreneurial journey, we'll be the ones standing with you for the long haul.
5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Venture Capital) currently manages approximately $5 billion across USD and RMB dual-currency funds. We believe that if the "crazy" you that others see starts to be believed in, the world becomes a better place.
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