SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 26, 2026 (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 first quarter ended March 31, 2026.
“We are pleased to report another quarter of accelerating growth and our sixth consecutive quarter of GAAP profitability,” said Tony Zhao, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Agora, Inc. “During the quarter, we enhanced our conversational AI portfolio with the launch of Agent Studio, a no-code platform that enables customers to rapidly build, deploy, and scale voice AI agents, alongside purpose-built agent templates for customer service and outbound marketing. We are seeing robust customer adoption and sustained growth in platform usage. As the market shifts from pilot programs to full-scale production, our decade-long investment in real-time engagement infrastructure positions us as a trusted provider of reliable, high-performance solutions. We remain committed to enabling our customers to deploy conversational AI at scale with ease and confidence.”
First Quarter 2026 Highlights
- Total revenues for the quarter were $37.7 million, an increase of 13.5% from $33.3 million in the first quarter of 2025.
- Active Customers as of March 31, 2026 were 3,946, an increase of 3.8% from 3,800 as of March 31, 2025.
- Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate for the quarter was 99%, compared to 95% in the first quarter of 2025.
- Net income for the quarter was $1.1 million, compared to $0.4 million in the first quarter of 2025.
- Total cash, cash equivalents, bank deposits and financial products issued by banks as of March 31, 2026 was $366.1 million.
- Net cash provided by operating activities for the quarter was $5.7 million (including interest received of $4.6 million), compared to $17.6 million in the first quarter of 2025 (including interest received of $17.8 million).
First Quarter 2026 Financial Results
Revenues
Total revenues were $37.7 million in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of 13.5% from $33.3 million in the same period last year, primarily due to the expansion and usage growth of our real-time engagement service in sectors such as live shopping, social and entertainment, and financial service.
Cost of Revenues
Cost of revenues was $13.8 million in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of 29.9% from $10.6 million in the same period last year, primarily due to increases in bandwidth and server costs and costs related to conversational AI products.
Gross Profit and Gross Margin
Gross profit was $23.9 million in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of 5.7% from $22.6 million in the same period last year. Gross margin was 63.4% in the first quarter of 2026, a decrease of 4.6% from 68.0% in the same period last year, mainly due to product mix changes, including conversational AI products remaining at a sub-scale stage.
Operating Expenses
Operating expenses were $26.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, a decrease of 0.4% from $26.5 million in the same period last year.
- Research and development expenses were $14.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of 2.9% from $14.0 million in the same period last year, primarily due to increased investment in conversational AI products.
- Sales and marketing expenses were $5.9 million in the first quarter of 2026, a decrease of 4.8% from $6.2 million in the same period last year, primarily due to disciplined expense management, including lower personnel and promotion expenses.
- General and administrative expenses were $6.0 million in the first quarter of 2026, a decrease of 3.4% from $6.2 million in the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in allowance for current expected credit losses, mainly as a result of improved customer credit conditions and collection outcomes.
Loss from Operations
Loss from operations was $1.6 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared to $3.7 million in the same period last year.
Interest Income
Interest income was $3.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared to $3.6 million in the same period last year, primarily due to the decrease in the average principal amount.
Investment (Loss) Income
Investment loss was $0.9 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared to investment income of $0.7 million in the same period last year, primarily due to fair value changes in equity investments.
Net Income per American Depositary Share Attributable to Ordinary Shareholders
Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share (“ADS”)1 attributable to ordinary shareholders was $0.01 in the first quarter of 2026, compared to $0.004 in the same period last year.
Share Repurchase Program
During the three months ended March 31, 2026, the Company repurchased approximately 12.5 million of its Class A ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 3.1 million ADSs) for approximately US$13.1 million under its share repurchase program, representing 6.5% of its US$200 million share repurchase program.
As of March 31, 2026, the Company had repurchased approximately 174.7 million of its Class A ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 43.7 million ADSs) for approximately US$156.2 million under its share repurchase program, representing 78.1% of its US$200 million share repurchase program.
As of March 31, 2026, the Company had 338.2 million ordinary shares (equivalent to approximately 84.5 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 2027.
Financial Outlook
Based on currently available information, the Company expects total revenues for the second quarter of 2026 to be between $39.0 million and $40.0 million, representing year-over-year growth of 13.7% to 16.6%. 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 May 26, 2026. Details for the conference call are as follows:
Event title: Agora, Inc. 1Q 2026 Financial Results
The call will be available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/vbsrxuhv
Investors 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/BIdac26bffc0104a0da1dfcd94c16d1908
Please visit the Company's investor relations website at https://investor.agora.io on May 26, 2026 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 by comparing the quarterly revenue from paying customers, excluding revenue from certain end-of-sale products, in the quarter four quarters prior to the most recent quarter to the quarterly revenue from the same set of customers in the most recent quarter. 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 contains 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 Company's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2025 and other filings with the SEC. 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 divisions, under the Agora brand and the Shengwang brand, respectively.
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.io
For more information on Shengwang, please visit: www.shengwang.cn
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents105,068 75,446Short-term bank deposits179,036 84,460Short-term financial products issued by banks52,000 55,000Short-term investments3,585 4,583Restricted cash200 200Accounts receivable, net24,895 24,867Prepayments and other current assets18,290 14,590Contract assets125 123Held-for-sale assets831 831Total current assets384,030 260,100Property and equipment, net3,699 3,947Construction in progress in relation to the headquarters project96,845 84,239Operating lease right-of-use assets1,855 2,145Intangible assets17 96Long-term bank deposits30,000 160,001Long-term investments29,239 29,182Land use right, net163,265 161,591Other non-current assets15,232 19,798Total assets724,182 721,099Liabilities and shareholders’ equity
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable10,824 9,638Advances from customers8,422 7,906Taxes payable621 696Current operating lease liabilities1,355 1,521Payables for construction costs17,299 16,607Accrued expenses and other current liabilities18,809 20,417Total current liabilities57,330 56,785Long-term payable4 3Long-term operating lease liabilities193 399Deferred tax liabilities- 12Long-term borrowings in relation to the headquarters project91,125 80,420Advance in relation to the headquarters project20,958 20,632Total liabilities169,610 158,251Shareholders’ equity:
Class A ordinary shares40 39Class B ordinary shares8 8Additional paid-in-capital1,145,796 1,145,126Treasury shares, at cost(107,613) (95,238)Accumulated other comprehensive loss(7,668) (9,987)Accumulated deficit(475,991) (477,100)Total shareholders’ equity554,572 562,848Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity724,182 721,099
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss)
(Unaudited, in US$ thousands, except share and per share data) Three Month Ended March 31, 2026 2025Real-time engagement service revenues37,188 32,673Real-time engagement on-premise solution and other revenues557 596Total revenues37,745 33,269Cost of revenues13,816 10,635Gross profit23,929 22,634Operating expenses:
Research and development14,421 14,018Sales and marketing5,937 6,235General and administrative6,023 6,238Total operating expenses26,381 26,491Other operating income805 154Loss from operations(1,647) (3,703)Exchange gain255 71Interest income3,440 3,635Interest expense(15) (5)Investment (loss) income(851) 689Income before income taxes1,182 687Income taxes(129) (42)Income (loss) from equity in affiliates56 (238)Net income1,109 407Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders1,109 407Other comprehensive income (loss):
Foreign currency translation adjustments2,319 (669)Total comprehensive income (loss) attributable to ordinary shareholders3,428 (262) Net income per share attributable to ordinary shareholders, basic and diluted
Basic0.003 0.001Diluted0.003 0.001Net income per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders, basic and diluted Basic0.01 0.004Diluted0.01 0.004Weighted-average shares used in computing net income per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders:
Basic347,604,568 377,173,029Diluted378,375,152 406,087,244 Share-based compensation expenses included in:
Cost of revenues2 47Research and development expenses593 1,359Sales and marketing expenses123 214General and administrative expenses586 328
Net income1,109 407Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Share-based compensation expenses1,304 1,948Allowance for current expected credit losses802 1,684Depreciation of property and equipment370 592Amortization of intangible assets80 130Amortization of land use right877 849Deferred tax expense(12) (20)Amortization of right-of-use asset and interest on lease liabilities466 538Investment loss (income)851 (689)(Income) loss from equity in affiliates(56) 238Losses on disposal of property and equipment1 1Changes in assets and liabilities, net of effect of acquisition:
Accounts receivable(637) 2,099Contract assets- 66Prepayments and other current assets626 14,817Other non-current assets(54) (1,215)Accounts payable1,105 (1,520)Advances from customers412 313Taxes payable(81) (1,018)Deferred income- 111Operating lease liabilities(547) (572)Accrued expenses and other liabilities(924) (1,182)Net cash provided by operating activities5,692 17,577Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of property and equipment(56) (555)Purchase of short-term bank deposits(10,000) (25,077)Purchase of short-term financial products issued by banks- (10,279)Proceeds from maturity of short-term bank deposits45,428 158,327Proceeds from maturity of short-term financial products issued by banks3,145 23,013Proceeds from sales of short-term investments2 -Purchase of long-term bank deposits- (154,001)Purchase of construction in progress for the headquarters project(9,357) (10,281)Disposal of property and equipment1 26Refundable deposit received in relation to disposal of subsidiaries- 4,410Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities29,163 (14,417)Cash flows from financing activities:
Proceeds from long-term borrowings9,393 10,627Proceeds from exercise of employees’ share options13 296Payment of financing cost(1,539) -Repurchase of Class A ordinary shares(13,304) (1,241)Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities(5,437) 9,682Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash204 (829)Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash29,622 12,013Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period *75,646 30,828Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period **105,268 42,841Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information:
Income taxes paid24 40Cash payments included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities547 572Non-cash financing and investing activities:
Proceeds receivable from exercise of employees’ share options72 21Payables for financing cost1,058 -Payables for property and equipment33 34Payables for construction in progress in relation to the headquarters project8,988 641Payables for treasury shares, at cost102 47 * Includes restricted cash balance200 3,745** includes restricted cash balance200 230
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1 One ADS represents four Class A ordinary shares.