Agora, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Agora, Inc. (NASDAQ: API) (the “Company”), a pioneer and leader in conversational AI and real-time engagement technology, today announced its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2025. “We are proud to deliver our third consecutive quarter of GAAP profitability in Q2, with expanding margins driven by solid revenue growth and continued efficiency improvement,” said Tony Zhao, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Agora, Inc. “Since launching our Conversational AI Engine in March, we’ve partnered with customers to develop voice agents for a variety of applications. We’re now seeing several of these solutions enter real-world production—including in call centers and AI-powered companion toys. Building on this momentum, we will continue to integrate domain-specific expertise and enhance the performance of our solution. We are increasingly confident that our technology will help transform industries ranging from customer service and education to smart devices.” Second Quarter 2025 Highlights Total revenues for the quarter were $34.3 million, an increase of 0.1% from $34.2 million in the second quarter of 2024, which included revenue from certain end-of-sale products of $3.3 million. Agora: $18.2 million for the quarter, an increase of 16.7% from $15.6 million in the second quarter of 2024.Shengwang: RMB115.5 million ($16.1 million) for the quarter, a decrease of 12.4% from RMB131.9 million ($18.6 million) in the second quarter of 2024. Certain end-of-sale products generated revenue of nil for the quarter and RMB23.7 million ($3.3 million) in the second quarter of 2024. Active Customers Agora: 1,880 as of June 30, 2025, an increase of 12.4% from 1,672 as of June 30, 2024.Shengwang: 1,997 as of June 30, 2025, an increase of 1.4% from 1,970 as of June 30, 2024. Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate Agora: 97% for the trailing 12-month period ended June 30, 2025.Shengwang: 87% for the trailing 12-month period ended June 30, 2025. Net income for the quarter was $1.5 million, compared to net loss of $9.2 million in the second quarter of 2024.Total cash, cash equivalents, bank deposits and financial products issued by banks as of June 30, 2025 was $377.3 million.Net cash used in operating activities for the quarter was $0.4 million, compared to $7.6 million in the second quarter of 2024. Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results RevenuesTotal revenues were $34.3 million in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 0.1% from $34.2 million in the same period last year. Revenues of Agora were $18.2 million in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 16.7% from $15.6 million in the same period last year, primarily due to our business expansion and usage growth in sectors such as live shopping. Revenues of Shengwang were RMB115.5 million ($16.1 million) in the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of 12.4% from RMB131.9 million ($18.6 million) in the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in revenues from certain end-of-sale products, which generated revenue of nil for the quarter and RMB23.7 million ($3.3 million) in the second quarter of 2024. Cost of RevenuesCost of revenues was $11.4 million in the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of 12.3% from $13.0 million in the same period last year, primarily due to the end-of-sale of certain products. Gross Profit and Gross MarginGross profit was $22.9 million in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 7.7% from $21.2 million in the same period last year. Gross margin was 66.8% in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 4.8% from 62.0% in the same period last year, mainly due to the end-of-sale of certain low-margin products. Operating ExpensesOperating expenses were $26.5 million in the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of 18.7% from $32.6 million in the same period last year. Research and development expenses were $14.0 million in the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of 23.0% from $18.1 million in the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in personnel costs as the Company optimized its global workforce, including a decrease in share-based compensation from $2.1 million in the second quarter of 2024 to $1.0 million in the second quarter of 2025.Sales and marketing expenses were $6.5 million in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 4.0 % from $6.3 million in the same period last year, primarily due to an increase in promotion expenses.General and administrative expenses were $6.0 million in the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of 26.6% from $8.2 million in the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in personnel costs as the Company optimized its global workforce. Loss from OperationsLoss from operations was $3.1 million in the second quarter of 2025, compared to $11.1 million in the same period last year. Interest IncomeInterest income was $3.7 million in the second quarter of 2025, compared to $4.6 million in the same period last year, primarily due to the decrease in average interest rate. Investment Income (Loss)Investment income was $0.8 million in the second quarter of 2025, compared to investment loss of $2.8 million in the same period last year, primarily due to the fair value change in equity investments, as well as an increase in investment income from structured deposits. Net Income (Loss)Net income was $1.5 million in the second quarter of 2025, compared to net loss of $9.2 million in the same period last year. Net Income (Loss) per American Depositary Share attributable to Ordinary ShareholdersBasic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share (“ADS”)1 attributable to ordinary shareholders were $0.02 and $0.01, respectively, in the second quarter of 2025, compared to basic and diluted net loss per ADS of $0.10 in the same period last year. _____________________1 One ADS represents four Class A ordinary shares. Share Repurchase Program During the three months ended June 30, 2025, the Company repurchased approximately 13.1 million of its Class A ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 3.3 million ADSs) for approximately US$10.9 million under its share repurchase program, representing 5.4% of its US$200 million share repurchase program. As of June 30, 2025, the Company had repurchased approximately 144.9 million of its Class A ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 36.2 million ADSs) for approximately US$127.2 million under its share repurchase program, representing 63.6% of its US$200 million share repurchase program. As of June 30, 2025, the Company had 362.9 million ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 90.7 million ADSs) outstanding, compared to 449.8 million ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 112.5 million ADSs) outstanding as of January 31, 2022 before the share repurchase program commenced. The current share repurchase program will expire at the end of February 2026. Executive Leadership Update and Change to Board of Directors The Company today announced a change in its executive leadership. Mr. Sheng (Shawn) Zhong has tendered his voluntary resignation from his roles of the Company’s Director, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Scientist for personal reasons. Mr. Zhong will transition his operational responsibilities to Tony Zhao, founder, chairman and CEO of the Company. Mr. Tony Wang, currently Chief Revenue Officer of the Company’s Agora division, and Mr. Jingbo Wang, currently Chief Financial Officer of the Company, have been appointed as directors of the Company, effective as of today. Mr. Tony Wang joined the Company in April 2015 as a founding member of the Agora division. Over the years, he has held several key leadership roles, including Head of Operations and Head of Emerging Technology and Market, and was appointed Chief Revenue Officer of the Agora division in May 2022. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Wang co-founded multiple technology and digital marketing startups between 2006 and 2015. Earlier in his career, he served as a senior application developer at InfoSearch Media, a search engine marketing firm, from 2002 to 2005. Mr. Wang obtained a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Southern California in 2002, a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Purdue University in 2001. “On behalf of the board, we sincerely thank Shawn for his dedicated service over the past seven years and for his contribution in building our technology leadership,” Mr. Tony Zhao, founder, chairman and CEO of the Company, commented, “We are pleased to welcome Tony and Jingbo to the Board. As an Agora veteran, Tony has been instrumental in shaping our go-to-market strategy and has demonstrated deep passion and conviction in real-time engagement and conversational AI technologies. Since joining the Company in January 2020, Jingbo has strengthened our financial foundation and played a key role in our business and organizational planning. Their strategic vision and operational expertise will be invaluable to the board as we continue to drive innovation and deliver long-term value for our shareholders.” Adoption of Amended and Restated Global Equity Incentive Plan The Company today announced that it has adopted the Amended and Restated Global Equity Incentive Plan (the “A&R Global Plan”), which amends the Company’s Global Equity Incentive Plan (originally effective upon the Company’s IPO) to increase the number of Class A ordinary shares available for the granting of awards to 50,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, effective as of August 18, 2025. These additional shares will be added to and made available for issuance pursuant to awards granted under the A&R Global Plan, in addition to the shares otherwise available under the Global Equity Incentive Plan in accordance with its terms. Except as expressly set forth in the A&R Global Plan, all other terms and conditions of the plan remain in full force and effect. Capitalized terms used but not defined in this press release have the meanings given to them in the plan. Financial Outlook Based on currently available information, the Company expects total revenues for the third quarter of 2025 to be between $34 million and $36 million, representing year-over-year growth of 7.6% to 13.9%. This outlook reflects the Company's current and preliminary views on the market and operational conditions, which are subject to change. Earnings Call The Company will host a conference call to discuss the financial results at 6 p.m. Pacific Time / 9 p.m. Eastern Time on August 18, 2025. Details for the conference call are as follows:Event title: Agora, Inc. 2Q 2025 Financial ResultsThe call will be available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/mqie27ctInvestors who want to hear the call should log on at least 15 minutes prior to the broadcast. Participants may register for the call with the link below.https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BI34805eeee29742fa9d1c15fc2c582f52Please visit the Company’s investor relations website at https://investor.agora.io on August 18, 2025 to view the earnings release and accompanying slides prior to the conference call. Operating Metrics The Company also uses other operating metrics included in this press release and defined below to assess the performance of its business. Active Customers An active customer at the end of any period is defined as an organization or individual developer from which the Company generated more than $100 of revenue during the preceding 12 months, excluding customers from Easemob. Customers are counted based on unique customer account identifiers. Generally, one software application uses the same customer account identifier throughout its life cycle while one account may be used for multiple applications. Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate is calculated for a trailing 12-month period by first identifying all customers in the prior 12-month period, and then calculating the quotient from dividing the revenue generated from such customers in the trailing 12-month period by the revenue generated from the same group of customers in the prior 12-month period. As the vast majority of revenue generated from Agora’s customers is denominated in U.S. dollars, while the vast majority of revenue generated from Shengwang’s customers is denominated in Renminbi, Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate is calculated in U.S. dollars for Agora and in Renminbi for Shengwang, which has substantially removed the impact of foreign currency translations. Shengwang excluded the revenues from certain end-of-sale products. The Company believes Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate facilitates operating performance comparisons on a period-to-period basis. Safe Harbor Statements This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical or current fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements regarding the Company’s financial outlook, beliefs and expectations. Forward-looking statements include statements containing words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “project,” “will” and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. Among other things, the Financial Outlook in this announcement contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. The Company’s actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation, risks related to the growth of the RTE-PaaS market; the Company’s ability to manage its growth and expand its operations; the Company’s ability to attract new developers and convert them into customers; the Company’s ability to retain existing customers and expand their usage of its platform and products; the Company’s ability to drive popularity of existing use cases and enable new use cases, including through quality enhancements and introduction of new products, features and functionalities; the Company’s fluctuating operating results; competition; the effect of broader technological and market trends on the Company’s business and prospects; general economic conditions and their impact on customer and end-user demand; and other risks and uncertainties included elsewhere in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including, without limitation, the final prospectus related to the IPO filed with the SEC on June 26, 2020. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. About Agora, Inc. Agora, Inc. is the holding company of two independent businesses, Agora and Shengwang. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Agora is a pioneer and global leader in conversational AI and Real-Time Engagement Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), providing developers with simple, flexible, and powerful application programming interfaces, or APIs, to embed real-time conversational AI, video, voice, chat and interactive streaming into their applications. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, Shengwang is a pioneer and leading conversational AI and Real-Time Engagement PaaS provider in the China market. For more information on Agora, please visit: www.agora.ioFor more information on Shengwang, please visit: www.shengwang.cn Agora, Inc.Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets(Unaudited, in US$ thousands) As of As of June 30, December 31, 2025 2024Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents40,327 27,083Short-term bank deposits35,429 168,327Short-term financial products issued by banks61,043 71,464Short-term investments3,032 2,787Restricted cash200 3,745Accounts receivable, net26,488 30,952Prepayments and other current assets9,899 22,593Contract assets121 1,099Held-for-sale assets831 -Total current assets177,370 328,050Property and equipment, net4,231 4,680Construction in progress in relation to the headquarters project59,255 44,486Operating lease right-of-use assets2,945 3,866Intangible assets352 611Long-term bank deposits188,501 35,500Long-term financial products issued by banks52,000 61,400Long-term investments31,542 40,710Land use right, net160,364 161,395Other non-current assets21,053 18,956Total assets697,613 699,654Liabilities and shareholders’ equity Current liabilities: Accounts payable11,988 12,965Advances from customers8,117 8,738Taxes payable1,224 2,210Current operating lease liabilities1,669 1,749Payables for construction costs13,824 12,834Accrued expenses and other current liabilities13,208 19,839Total current liabilities50,030 58,335Long-term payable3 1Long-term operating lease liabilities1,055 1,922Deferred tax liabilities52 92Long-term borrowings in relation to the headquarters project60,838 46,469Advance in relation to the headquarters project20,258 20,174Total liabilities132,236 126,993Shareholders’ equity: Class A ordinary shares39 39Class B ordinary shares8 8Additional paid-in-capital1,144,702 1,144,238Treasury shares, at cost(82,031) (72,739)Accumulated other comprehensive loss(12,582) (12,257)Accumulated deficit(484,759) (486,628)Total shareholders’ equity565,377 572,661Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity697,613 699,654 Agora, Inc.Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss(Unaudited, in US$ thousands, except share and per ADS amounts) Three Month Ended Six Month Ended June 30, June 30, 20252024 20252024Real-time engagement service revenues33,716 33,138 66,389 65,360 Real-time engagement on-premise solution and other revenues543 1,071 1,139 1,870 Total revenues34,259 34,209 67,528 67,230 Cost of revenues11,389 12,983 22,024 25,780 Gross profit22,870 21,226 45,504 41,450 Operating expenses: Research and development13,976 18,141 27,994 36,280 Sales and marketing6,521 6,270 12,756 13,084 General and administrative6,039 8,228 12,277 16,608 Total operating expenses26,536 32,639 53,027 65,972 Other operating income548 304 702 780 Loss from operations(3,118)(11,109) (6,821)(23,742)Exchange gain85 110 156 65 Interest income3,706 4,586 7,341 9,320 Interest expense(1)(105) (6)(165)Investment income (loss)797 (2,837) 1,485 (4,872)Income (loss) before income taxes1,469 (9,355) 2,155 (19,394)Income taxes(43)(9) (84)(149)Income (loss) from equity in affiliates36 122 (202)838 Net income (loss)1,462 (9,242) 1,869 (18,705)Net income (loss) attributable to ordinary shareholders1,462 (9,242) 1,869 (18,705)Other comprehensive income (loss): Foreign currency translation adjustments343 (738) (326)(1,078)Total comprehensive income (loss) attributable to ordinary shareholders1,805 (9,980) 1,543 (19,783) Net income (loss) per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders, basic and diluted Basic0.02 (0.10) 0.02 (0.20)Diluted0.01 (0.10) 0.02 (0.20)Weighted-average shares used in computing net income (loss) per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders, basic and diluted Basic370,332,857 373,103,149 373,734,048 372,644,910 Diluted392,602,913 373,103,149 400,458,176 372,644,910 Share-based compensation expenses included in: Cost of revenues29 52 75 153 Research and development expenses978 2,065 2,337 5,110 Sales and marketing expenses210 294 424 597 General and administrative expenses314 748 642 1,733 Agora, Inc.Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows(Unaudited, in US$ thousands) Three Month Ended Six Month Ended June 30, June 30, 20252024 20252024Cash flows from operating activities: Net income (loss)1,462 (9,242) 1,869 (18,705)Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities: Share-based compensation expenses1,531 3,159 3,478 7,593 Allowance for current expected credit losses1,332 2,557 3,016 4,848 Depreciation of property and equipment525 930 1,117 1,938 Amortization of intangible assets130 129 259 402 Amortization of land use right848 858 1,697 1,716 Deferred tax expense(20)(20) (41)(62)Amortization of right-of-use asset and interest on lease liabilities540 688 1,078 1,348 Investment (income) loss(797)2,837 (1,485)4,872 (Income) loss from equity in affiliates(36)(122) 202 (838)Loss on disposal of property and equipment2 17 3 15 Changes in assets and liabilities, net of effect of acquisition: Accounts receivable(572)(3,284) 1,527 (7,791)Contract assets912 - 978 (29)Prepayments and other current assets474 (2,118) 15,291 (12,476)Other non-current assets(2,209)(106) (3,424)7,140 Accounts payable710 2,125 (810)4,573 Advances from customers(959)(144) (645)357 Taxes payable27 213 (991)654 Operating lease liabilities(587)(759) (1,159)(1,642)Deferred income- 63 111 (194)Accrued expenses and other liabilities(3,665)(5,336) (4,847)(7,761)Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities(352)(7,555) 17,224 (14,042)Cash flows from investing activities: Purchase of property and equipment(317)(377) (872)(964)Purchase of short-term bank deposits(10,429)(12,000) (35,507)(43,100)Purchase of short-term financial products issued by banks(5,070)(20,091) (15,348)(20,091)Proceeds from maturity of short-term bank deposits20,077 51,098 178,404 74,241 Proceeds from maturity of short-term financial products issued by banks13,429 - 36,442 10,029 Purchase of long-term bank deposits(9,000)(10,000) (163,001)(10,000)Purchase of long-term financial products issued by banks- (3,400) - (9,400)Purchase of construction in progress for the headquarters project(3,472)(4,199) (13,753)(10,977)Disposal of property and equipment4 49 30 56 Cash received from disposal of long-term investments- 127 - 127 Refundable deposit received in relation to disposal of subsidiaries- - 4,410 - Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities5,222 1,207 (9,195)(10,079)Cash flows from financing activities: Proceeds from long-term borrowings3,507 4,310 14,134 11,054 Proceeds from exercise of employees’ share options181 167 477 375 Deposit received in relation to headquarters project- - - 19,280 Repurchase of Class A ordinary shares(10,862)(2,346) (12,103)(5,754)Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities(7,174)2,131 2,508 24,955 Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash(10)(98) (838)(141)Net (decrease) increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash(2,314)(4,315) 9,699 693 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period *42,841 42,182 30,828 37,174 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period **40,527 37,867 40,527 37,867 Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information: Income taxes paid33 1 73 109 Cash payments included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities587 759 1,159 1,642 Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for operating lease obligations86 177 86 513 Non-cash financing and investing activities: Proceeds receivable from exercise of employees’ share options46 33 46 33 Proceeds receivable for dividend110 - 110 - Proceeds receivable for disposal2,909 - 2,909 - Payables for property and equipment191 32 191 32 Payables for construction in progress in relation to the headquarters project11,497 991 12,138 2,785 Payables for treasury shares, at cost37 74 37 74 * includes restricted cash balance230 280 3,745 280 ** includes restricted cash balance200 280 200 280

Agora, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results

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