London’s Unit1 Studio Secures €23.3 Million to Scale Avatar Concerts Beyond the ABBA Voyage Model

London-based Unit1 Studio has secured €23.3 million (£20 million) in new financing to scale its avatar concert technology and make immersive digital performances commercially viable across multiple venues. The financing combines an oversubscribed equity round led by Balderton Capital with additional production financing. Existing investors Mercuri, Gilston Music, and U2 manager Paul McGuinness also participated.

Founded to produce end-to-end avatar concerts, Unit1 Studio combines VFX, AI-enhanced CGI, performance technology, live musicians, lighting, sound, and physical staging to create immersive performances built around hyper-realistic digital artists. Its model aims to move beyond the economics of productions such as ABBA Voyage, which has demonstrated demand for avatar concerts but relies on a highly specialised, single-venue setup.

The company is led by founder and CEO Barney Wragg, alongside Creative Director Jonathan Butterell and Technical Director Pavle Mihajlovic. Wragg previously led Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group and held senior digital roles at AEG, EMI and Universal Music Group. Butterell is known for the West End musical and BAFTA-nominated film Everyone’s Talking About Jamie, while Mihajlovic previously co-founded video game studios Electric Saint and Flavourworks.

Unit1 recently demonstrated a key part of its technology by relocating its KT Tunstall avatar concert from Brompton Technology’s testing facility in Gunnersbury to a permanent studio at Tileyard London in just four days. The company describes this as a major step toward making avatar productions easier and more economical to replicate across different venues.

The KT Tunstall project uses advanced CGI and performance technology to recreate the singer in a live environment, combining digital visuals with physical staging. Unit1 has worked with partners including ROE Visual and Brompton Technology, both of which have experience supporting major immersive productions including ABBA Voyage.

The new funding will support Unit1’s growing pipeline of avatar concert productions, technology development, and expansion of its team. The company says its technology could allow productions to be replicated across multiple locations, potentially bringing the economics of avatar concerts closer to touring theatre productions while creating new opportunities for artists, catalogues and venues.

Unit1 has not yet disclosed the artists behind its upcoming productions, with announcements expected as individual shows move toward ticket sales.