Agora Removes Barriers to Scalable Voice AI Agents

Rhea-AI Summary

Agora (NASDAQ: API) launched Conversational AI Agent solutions for Customer Service and Sales & Marketing on March 11, 2026. The offering combines Agent Studio, a no-code builder; a Conversational AI Engine integrating ASR/LLMs/TTS; and SDRTN for sub-second latency and global reliability.

The platform targets high-volume contact centers and outbound workflows, citing use cases such as appointment reminders, debt collection, lead qualification, and a customer-reported 10% conversion rate in survey outreach.

Key Figures

Automated interactions by 2027: 70% AI agents vs sellers by 2028: 10 to 1 Survey conversion rate: 10%

3 metrics

Automated interactions by 2027 70% Gartner forecast for customer interactions handled by conversational AI agents

AI agents vs sellers by 2028 10 to 1 Gartner projection for AI agents outnumbering human sellers

Survey conversion rate 10% Conversion rate using Agora’s Voice AI agents for survey outreach

Market Reality Check

Price: $3.99 Vol: Volume 783,700 is 1.75x t...

high vol

$3.99 Last Close

Volume Volume 783,700 is 1.75x the 20-day average of 447,824, indicating elevated trading interest before this AI launch. high

Technical Shares at $4.18 are trading above the 200-day MA of $3.89, while sitting 26.8% below the 52-week high of $5.71.

Peers on Argus

API was down 4.78% while close peers were mixed: BZAI up 0.9%, OOMA down 0.77%, ...

API was down 4.78% while close peers were mixed: BZAI up 0.9%, OOMA down 0.77%, PUBM down 3.41%, and TRAK down 2.44%. No peers appeared in the momentum scanner, supporting a stock-specific move rather than a broad sector rotation.

Previous AI Reports

5 past events · Latest: Dec 01 (Positive)

Same Type Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
Dec 01	AI platform adoption	Positive	+1.1%	Agnes AI chose Agora Chat for multi-agent AI collaboration at scale.
Nov 06	AI avatar partnership	Positive	+0.9%	Akool streaming avatars integrated into Agora’s conversational AI platform.
Oct 15	AI voice bot integration	Positive	+2.3%	Integration with Exotel AgentStream to power large-scale AI voice bots.
Sep 04	OpenAI API integration	Positive	+3.6%	Expanded support for OpenAI’s Realtime API in Agora’s AI Engine.
Jul 29	AI features showcase	Positive	-3.0%	Showcased new conversational AI features at WAIC, including avatars and vision.

Pattern Detected

AI-related announcements have typically seen modest positive reactions, with one notable negative move on a showcase event, suggesting occasional divergence between product news and price.

Recent Company History

Recent AI-focused news for Agora shows consistent expansion of its conversational AI ecosystem. Since July 29, 2025, the company has highlighted avatar-based interactions, real-time AI voice bots at scale, integrations with OpenAI’s Realtime API, and powering fast-growing platforms like Agnes AI with 200,000+ DAU and 3M registered users. Average 24-hour moves around these AI headlines were mildly positive, framing today’s unified Voice AI Agent launch within an ongoing, multi-quarter AI build-out.

Historical Comparison

+1.0% avg move · In the past year, Agora released 5 AI-focused updates with an average 24-hour move of 0.96%. Today’s...

AI

+1.0%

Average Historical Move AI

In the past year, Agora released 5 AI-focused updates with an average 24-hour move of 0.96%. Today’s -4.78% move contrasts with that pattern, marking a weaker-than-usual reaction to another major conversational AI milestone.

AI-tagged news shows a progression from showcasing core conversational AI features and avatars to deeper integrations with major partners and high-usage platforms, culminating in today’s unified, enterprise-grade Voice AI Agent stack for customer service and sales.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement highlights Agora’s push to make large-scale conversational AI deployable through a...

Analysis

This announcement highlights Agora’s push to make large-scale conversational AI deployable through a unified stack combining Agent Studio, a Conversational AI Engine, and its SDRTN® network. It targets enterprise use cases in customer service and sales, with reported benefits like a 10% survey conversion rate for one user. Context from prior AI-related partnerships suggests an ongoing strategy to deepen real-time voice and agent capabilities across multiple industries and regions.

Key Terms

software-defined real-time network, automatic speech recognition, asr, large language models, +2 more

6 terms

software-defined real-time network technical

"SDRTN® (Software-Defined Real-Time Network): Agora’s foundational, globally distributed..."

A software-defined real-time network is a communications system where software, rather than fixed hardware settings, controls how data is routed and prioritized so information moves with minimal delay. Think of it like a smart traffic control that reroutes cars instantly to avoid jams; for investors it matters because it enables faster services, lower operating costs, and easier upgrades, which can boost competitiveness, revenue potential, or signal technology-driven risk reduction.

automatic speech recognition technical

"Conversational AI Engine: An advanced orchestration layer that integrates Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)..."

Automatic speech recognition is software that listens to spoken language and converts it into written text, like a digital stenographer or a phone that types what you say. Investors care because the technology can cut labor costs, enable new products and services, improve customer support and regulatory record-keeping, and influence revenue or margins for companies that build, license, or rely on voice-driven systems.

asr technical

"layer that integrates Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Large Language Models (LLMs), and Text-to-Speech..."

An ASR (Accelerated Share Repurchase) is a deal where a company buys back a large block of its own shares quickly by contracting with a bank: the company pays up front and the bank delivers shares immediately, later settling the exact amount over time. Investors care because it reduces the number of shares on the market—like reducing the number of slices in a pie—which can boost per-share earnings and often supports the stock price, while shifting some execution risk to the bank.

large language models technical

"layer that integrates Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Large Language Models (LLMs), and Text-to-Speech..."

Large language models are advanced AI systems trained on vast amounts of text to understand and generate human-like writing, like a very fast reader and writer that learns patterns in words and sentences. They matter to investors because they can change how companies operate—automating customer service, speeding analysis, cutting costs, creating new products—and they introduce risks around accuracy, security and regulation that can affect a firm’s revenue and reputation.

llms technical

"layer that integrates Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Large Language Models (LLMs), and Text-to-Speech..."

Large language models are advanced computer programs that read and generate human-like text by learning patterns from huge amounts of written material; think of them as digital employees that can draft reports, answer questions, summarize documents, or generate code. They matter to investors because they can change a company’s costs, speed of product development, customer service, and competitive edge — and they also create new risks and regulatory questions that can affect profits and valuation.

text-to-speech technical

"Recognition (ASR), Large Language Models (LLMs), and Text-to-Speech (TTS) for seamless real-time workflows."

Text-to-speech is software that converts written words into natural-sounding spoken audio, like a narrator reading a page aloud. For investors it matters because it can broaden a product’s audience (for example, people who prefer audio or need accessibility), reduce customer support and content production costs, and create new revenue or engagement channels—factors that can affect user growth, margins, and regulatory compliance.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

SDRTN®-powered agents eliminate latency and production hurdles, making Conversational AI finally deployable at scale

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Agora (NASDAQ: API), a global leader in real-time engagement, today unveiled its Conversational AI Agent solutions for Customer Service and Sales & Marketing - built on a unified platform designed to solve the technical friction that has kept Conversational AI from true enterprise-grade deployment. This arrives as the industry reaches a critical inflection point. According to Gartner, by the end of 2027, conversational AI agents are expected to automate 70% of customer interactions, and by 2028, AI agents are projected to outnumber human sellers 10 to 1. Despite this massive opportunity, many businesses remain constrained by legacy systems that are simply unable to address long wait times, rigid call routing, or inefficient outreach - creating operational strain while eroding customer trust.

The Infrastructure Powering Enterprise Voice AI

Agora’s comprehensive Conversational AI platform eliminates high-stakes production hurdles by unifying three core technologies into a single, high-performance stack:

• Agent Studio: A visual, no-code environment that enables enterprises to rapidly build, test, and deploy sophisticated voice AI agents.
• Conversational AI Engine: An advanced orchestration layer that integrates Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Large Language Models (LLMs), and Text-to-Speech (TTS) for seamless real-time workflows.
• SDRTN® (Software-Defined Real-Time Network): Agora’s foundational, globally distributed infrastructure that ensures sub-second latency and reliability.
  

By leveraging this high-performance stack, Agora delivers a level of operational reliability that competing voice AI solutions cannot match - ensuring natural conversational flow through ultra-low-latency interactions, crystal-clear communication on congested networks, and accurate responses in noisy environments through AI noise suppression and voice locking.

“Voice is the most natural way we communicate, but delivering real-time conversational AI at scale requires infrastructure built specifically for it,” said Tony Zhao, Founder and CEO of Agora. “By solving the latency and orchestration challenges that have historically limited voice AI, we’re enabling companies to finally deploy conversational agents at scale without compromising on the quality of the customer experience.”

Currently, global organizations are already deploying these capabilities to transform high-volume customer service and outbound engagement workflows.

Transforming Customer Conversations with Voice AI

AI Customer Service Agents: Scaling Support Without Compromising Experience

As customer interaction volumes increase, contact centers face mounting pressure to maintain service quality while managing operational costs. Agora’s AI Customer Service Agents solve this by automating routine inquiries - such as appointment reminders, shipping updates, technical troubleshooting, and billing inquiries - providing consistent, real-time support that allows human agents to focus on more complex cases.

Key advantages:

• Instant availability: Provide 24/7 automated support to resolve common inquiries without waiting.
• Natural conversations: Facilitate fluid, human-like dialogue using advanced interruption-aware voice technology.
• Operational efficiency: Maximize resolution rates through intelligent automation and seamless escalations to live human agents when needed.
  

AI Sales & Marketing Agents: Intelligent Outreach at Scale

Outbound engagement has historically relied on rigid dialers and scripts that feel impersonal to customers. Agora’s AI Sales & Marketing Agents solve this by bringing conversational intelligence to outreach - powering high-impact use cases like debt collection, payment processing, outbound lead qualification, interactive surveys, and real-time event polls - through natural, real-time voice interactions.

Key advantages:

• Context-aware engagement: Navigate complex objections and adapt messaging dynamically in real time.
• Automated qualification: Identify high-intent buyers and schedule qualified meetings directly.
• Higher productivity: Enable sales teams to focus on closing deals rather than manual dialing and screening.
  

“The challenge with traditional market research is the friction of the initial outreach. By using Agora’s Voice AI agents to invite participants to our survey platform, we’ve seen a 10% conversion rate - a figure that was previously unattainable with manual dialing,” said Alejandro Pinto Villalba, Executive Director at FasesBI. “The agents handle the initial pitch and incentive explanation flawlessly, allowing us to scale our data collection and reward distribution without increasing our operational headcount.”

Learn more:

AI Customer Service Agents
https://www.agora.io/en/solutions/ai-customer-service-agents

AI Sales & Marketing Agents
https://www.agora.io/en/solutions/ai-sales-marketing-agents

About Agora

Agora is the global leader in real-time engagement, providing developers with the APIs to embed real-time voice, video, and conversational AI into any application. Headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, Agora is trusted by over 2,000 organizations to power best-in-class digital experiences across all industries.

Learn more: https://www.agora.io/

Media contact:
Claudia Oliva
press@agora.io

FAQ

What did Agora (API) announce on March 11, 2026 about Conversational AI agents?

Agora announced new Conversational AI Agent solutions for Customer Service and Sales & Marketing built on Agent Studio, a Conversational AI Engine, and SDRTN for sub-second latency. According to Agora, the stack enables scalable, real-time voice AI deployments without traditional production hurdles.

How does Agora (API) claim SDRTN improves voice AI performance for enterprises?

Agora says SDRTN provides a globally distributed, software-defined real-time network that delivers sub-second latency, reliability, and improved audio quality. According to Agora, SDRTN enables ultra-low-latency interactions and clearer calls even on congested networks and noisy environments.

What customer use cases did Agora (API) highlight for its AI Customer Service Agents?

Agora highlighted automating routine inquiries like appointment reminders, shipping updates, troubleshooting, and billing to provide 24/7 support and seamless escalations. According to Agora, this frees human agents for complex cases while improving resolution rates and operational efficiency.

What sales and marketing applications did Agora (API) describe for its AI Sales & Marketing Agents?

Agora described outbound use cases such as debt collection, payment processing, lead qualification, interactive surveys, and event polls using context-aware voice interactions. According to Agora, agents can identify high-intent buyers and schedule meetings while increasing outreach productivity.

What evidence did Agora (API) provide about customer results or conversion improvements?

Agora cited a customer example reporting a 10% conversion rate when using Voice AI to invite participants to surveys, a result they said exceeded previous manual dialing performance. According to Agora, this demonstrates scale benefits without increasing operational headcount.