{
  "data": null,
  "kind": "anchor.page",
  "links": {
    "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json",
    "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/david-zhao/",
    "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/david-zhao/index.json",
    "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt",
    "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/david-zhao/index.md",
    "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp",
    "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/david-zhao/index.min.md"
  },
  "markdown": "Co-founder and CTO.\n\nDavid Zhao is co-founder and CTO of LiveKit, which he started with Russ d'Sa in 2021. Forbes reports the two met at Y Combinator in 2007, that Zhao later worked at Motorola, and that they co-founded Evie Labs, a machine learning news recommendation app sold to Medium in 2019.\n\n- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidzhao/\n- X: https://x.com/davidzh\n\n## What David builds\n\n- [LiveKit Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/livekit-agents.md), graded BB, 72.5/100, in Conversational voice agents. LiveKit Agents is LiveKit's open-source Python and Node.js framework for realtime voice and video agents that join LiveKit rooms, with STT, LLM, TTS and realtime-model plugins, turn detection, MCP tools and telephony through LiveKit SIP. Co-founder and CTO, researched 2026-10-26.\n- [LiveKit Telephony](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/livekit-telephony.md), graded B, 67.6/100, in Phone calling \u0026 voice transport. LiveKit Telephony connects phone calls to LiveKit rooms as SIP participants. On LiveKit Cloud it covers SIP trunks to outside carriers, US inbound phone numbers, dispatch rules and transfers, managed through a Twirp API, server SDKs and the `lk` CLI. Co-founder and CTO, researched 2026-10-27.\n\n## Works with\n\n- [Russ d’Sa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/russ-d-sa/), Co-founder and CEO\n\n## Backed by\n\n- [Altimeter Capital](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/altimeter-capital/)\n- [Redpoint Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/redpoint-ventures/)\n- [Index Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/index-ventures/)\n- [Salesforce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/salesforce/)\n- [Hanabi Capital](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/hanabi-capital/)\n- [Jeff Dean](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/jeff-dean/)\n- [Elad Gil](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/elad-gil/)\n- [Aravind Srinivas](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/aravind-srinivas/)\n- [Amjad Masad](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/amjad-masad/)\n- [Guillermo Rauch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/guillermo-rauch/)\n- [Logan Kilpatrick](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/logan-kilpatrick/)\n- [Mati Staniszewski](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/mati-staniszewski/)\n- [Erik Bernhardsson](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/erik-bernhardsson/)\n- [Rohan Anil](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/rohan-anil/)\n- [Mckay Wrigley](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/mckay-wrigley/)\n- [Demi Guo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/demi-guo/)\n- [Matt Shumer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/matt-shumer/)\n- [Garrett Camp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/garrett-camp/)\n- [Ev Williams](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/ev-williams/)\n- [Justin Kan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/justin-kan/)\n\n## Questions\n\n### Who is David Zhao?\n\nDavid Zhao is co-founder and CTO of LiveKit, which he started with Russ d'Sa in 2021. Forbes reports the two met at Y Combinator in 2007, that Zhao later worked at Motorola, and that they co-founded Evie Labs, a machine learning news recommendation app sold to Medium in 2019.\n\n### What does LiveKit Incorporated make?\n\nAnchor Terminal lists LiveKit Agents and LiveKit Telephony from LiveKit Incorporated. LiveKit Agents is LiveKit's open-source Python and Node.js framework for realtime voice and video agents that join LiveKit rooms, with STT, LLM, TTS and realtime-model plugins, turn detection, MCP tools and telephony through LiveKit SIP.\n\n### Who has invested in LiveKit Incorporated?\n\nThe sources our research read name Altimeter Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Index Ventures, Salesforce, Hanabi Capital, Jeff Dean, Elad Gil, Aravind Srinivas, Amjad Masad, Guillermo Rauch, Logan Kilpatrick, Mati Staniszewski, Erik Bernhardsson, Rohan Anil, Mckay Wrigley, Demi Guo, Matt Shumer, Garrett Camp, Ev Williams and Justin Kan.\n\n### How are David's tools graded?\n\nLiveKit Agents is graded BB, 72.5 out of 100; LiveKit Telephony is graded B, 67.6 out of 100, on Anchor Terminal's benchmark, which scores every listing against the same checklist.\n\n## Sources\n\n- https://www.linkedin.com/in/russelldsa/\n- https://livekit.com/\n- https://x.com/dsa\n- https://docs.livekit.io/intro/community/\n- https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidzhao/\n- https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?keywords=LiveKit%20founder\u0026spellCorrectionEnabled=false\n- https://livekit.com/about\n- https://livekit.com/pricing\n\nThese are the people building the tools we list, named for their public role in the company or project behind a listing, from public pages, with the date it was researched. They don't work for Anchor Terminal (our own team is on the about page, /about/#author). We show public roles, public profiles and what the listing pages show, nothing private. To correct something, send an about or a photo, or have a page removed, write to privacy@anchorterminal.com.\n",
  "meta": {
    "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)",
    "attributionRequired": true,
    "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)",
    "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/",
    "generatedAt": "2026-10-28",
    "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
    "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/",
    "methodology": "0.7",
    "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json",
    "preview": false,
    "run": "2026-10-01",
    "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
    "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data"
  },
  "page": {
    "breadcrumbs": [
      {
        "name": "Home",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/"
      },
      {
        "name": "People building AI tools",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/"
      },
      {
        "name": "David Zhao",
        "url": ""
      }
    ],
    "description": "David Zhao is co-founder and CTO. LiveKit Agents and LiveKit Telephony on Anchor Terminal, with grades, an about and public profiles.",
    "facts": null,
    "h1": "David Zhao",
    "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png",
    "path": "/people/david-zhao/",
    "published": "",
    "section": "people",
    "title": "David Zhao, Co-founder and CTO | Anchor Terminal",
    "toc": null,
    "updated": "2026-10-28",
    "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/david-zhao/"
  },
  "tokens": {
    "markdown": 1400,
    "slim": 1230
  },
  "version": 1
}