WebEx Veteran’s Streaming Business Draws Coatue Funding

(Bloomberg) -- Agora.io, a mobile video and audio call service operator, has raised $70 million in a series C funding round led by Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The deal brings total funding for Santa Clara, California-based Agora to $125 million, according to the person. Existing investors Susquehanna International Group, Morningside Venture Capital and Shunwei Capital Partners also participated in the round, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Tech-focused hedge fund Coatue’s past investments include Uber Technologies Inc. and Snap Inc.

Agora’s products allow developers to embed live voice, video and broadcasting into existing applications with minimal coding. It was founded in 2014 by Tony Zhao, the former chief technology officer of Chinese live-streaming platform YY Inc. Zhao was also a founding engineer of WebEx Communications Inc.

Representatives for Agora and Coatue declined to comment, while Morningside and SIG didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. A representative for Shunwei Capital said she couldn’t immediately comment.

Agora’s network processes an average of 10 billion minutes of live communications every month for customers including Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp. and social networking platform Momo Inc. The firm also has a research and development center in Shanghai.

To contact the reporter on this story: Crystal Tse in Hong Kong at ctse44@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Timothy Sifert

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