Agora Partners with HTC to Power Next Generation of AR and XR Innovation

Partnership brings real-time engagement to premier virtual reality and extended reality platform HTC VIVE

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Agora, Inc. (NASDAQ: API), a pioneer and leading platform for real-time engagement APIs, today announced a partnership with HTC as part of the HTC VIVE^Ⓡ Independent Software Vendors (ISV) Program to accelerate the adoption of VR innovation in real-time engagement (RTE) applications. HTC VIVE is the premier virtual reality (VR) platform and ecosystem creating true-to-life VR experiences for businesses and consumers. The ISV program enables developers creating applications and platforms within HTC VIVE's VR and extended reality (XR) ecosystem to seamlessly integrate Agora's voice, video, messaging and interactive live streaming technology.

"As a company by and for global developers, Agora couldn't be more excited to join the HTC VIVE ISV Partner Program," said Tony Zhao, Founder & CEO of Agora. "By pairing our best-in-class RTE technology with HTC's expertise in VR and XR, we are enabling developers to create virtual environments and experiences that we have never seen before. We especially look forward to working with HTC VIVE developers who are experimenting with enterprise applications to drive employee productivity. Through the pandemic, we have seen a massive uptick in innovation within the space and feel strongly that AR and XR coupled with RTE will drive the next-generation of workplace collaboration."

As the market continues to demand innovation in VR and XR across both the consumer and enterprise verticals, this partnership marks a pivotal moment to marry cutting-edge metaverse use cases with the collaborative power of RTE. With consumers and businesses alike continuing to see the value of dynamic virtual environments during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, innovation within the space poses greenfield opportunities for everything from workplace collaboration, social networking, employee training, workshops and record streaming.

"Tapping Agora's expertise in RTE brings that vital human element into spaces powered by AR and XR," said Cher Wang, CEO of HTC. "By bringing this champion of RTE into the HTC VIVE ISV Partner Program, we are providing developers with a crucial piece of the innovation puzzle -- human connection. As we look toward a future defined by VR and XR, we feel confident that with Agora beside us, we will continue to make our combined offerings increasingly accessible to all developers."

To learn more about the HTC VIVE ISV Partner Program, visit: https://business.vive.com/us/isv/partners/. Register now for VIVECON 2021 on May 11 - 12, 2021 and visit the Agora booth at the VIVE ISV Partner Expo. To learn more about remote collaboration and how Agora is integrated into HTC VIVE, don't miss our panel presentations "Remote work: The new normal" and "Developing for VIVE: What's new?" For more information about Agora and its partnerships, visit: www.agora.io.

About Agora

Agora is a Real-time Engagement Platform as a Service (RTE PaaS) company. Agora's mission is to make real-time engagement ubiquitous, allowing everyone to interact with anyone, in any application, anytime and anywhere. Agora's platform provides developers simple, flexible and powerful application programming interfaces, or APIs, to embed real-time video and voice engagement experiences into their applications.

About HTC

HTC VIVE is the premier virtual reality (VR) platform and ecosystem that creates true-to-life VR experiences for businesses and consumers. The VIVE ecosystem is built around premium VR hardware, software, and content. The VIVE business encompasses best-in-class XR hardware; VIVEPORT platform and app store; VIVE Enterprise Solutions for business customers; VIVE X, a US$100M VR business accelerator; and VIVE ARTS for cultural initiatives. For more information, please visit www.vive.com.

HTC, VIVE, and the VIVE logo are the trademarks or registered trademarks of HTC Corporation. All other names of companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.