Unit1
5 employees on LinkedIn · 2 known investors
Unit1 Studio produces virtual concerts and avatar-based live performances, creating digital doubles of artists and combining LED display, lighting, sound, and post-production technologies for stage and screen. It works with entertainment industry partners to build virtual stages and live show experiences.
Also known as Unit1 · Unit1 Studio
Investors · 2
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Unit1 Studio is an independent, end-to-end producer of avatar concerts. It combines the disciplines needed to conceive, stage and operate large immersive virtual events, covering artist relations, talent sourcing, creative direction, avatar production, staging, venue partnerships, marketing, event operations and production financing. Its stated aim is to let audiences re-experience historic live performances through photorealistic digital doubles of artists.
The company works with external production partners across the live-events supply chain, including ROE Visual (LED display), Woodroffe Bassett Design (lighting), Richard Brooker Sound Design, Hive (media control systems), Goldcrest (post production) and Brompton Technology (LED processing). Its public materials feature contributions from artist ambassador KT Tunstall, creative director Jonathan Butterell, CEO Barney Wragg, technical director Pavle Mihajlovic, lighting designer Adam Bassett and sound designer Richard Brooker.
Founding story
Founder and CEO Barney Wragg has framed the company around concerts audiences never had the chance to attend, citing examples such as Elton John at the Troubadour, Queen at Live Aid, Hendrix at Woodstock and The Beatles at The Cavern, and the aim of reaching a price point that makes such productions commercially viable.
Business model
Unit1 operates on a model described as similar to that of a Broadway or West End producer: it partners with concert promoters and venue owners to present and host avatar concerts, and finances productions itself. Lower production costs are presented as enabling higher royalty payments to artists and catalogue owners without the company taking an ownership share in recording or publishing rights.
Revenue derives from producing and staging avatar concerts in partnership with promoters and venues, with productions financed by the company and royalties paid to artists and catalogue owners rather than rights ownership being acquired.
Traction
Its first public demonstration is a collaboration with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, whose avatar performs an immersive live set for invited industry guests, timed to the 20th anniversary reissue of her album Eye To The Telescope, released by BMG and Virgin on 31 October 2025. The company has also been featured on BBC News Tech Now and in IQ Magazine.
Latest developments
At its October 2025 launch Unit1 announced the KT Tunstall avatar showcase with production partners Woodroffe Bassett Lighting Design, ROE Visual and Brompton Technology. Company commentary has since covered "Time Travel Tourism" — photorealistic avatar productions bringing artists back to audiences — in IQ Magazine, alongside a BBC News Tech Now feature and published views on hybrid real-and-virtual concerts.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Unit1 positions itself as the first independent, end-to-end producer of avatar concerts, citing forecasts that the immersive entertainment industry will reach $442 billion by 2030 and targeting the affordability gap left by earlier, high-cost avatar productions.
The company emphasises independence and end-to-end delivery, reduced production cost and time-to-market for photorealistic avatars, and a financing structure that avoids acquiring recording or publishing rights while paying higher royalties.
Technology
The company states it has developed VFX and AI-enhanced CGI techniques that produce avatars of human artists with a high degree of realism at lower cost and shorter time-to-market than earlier avatar productions. Production draws on LED display and LED processing technology, lighting, sound design, media control systems and post production supplied through partner firms.
Go-to-market
Unit1 launched publicly in October 2025 via music trade press, using an invitation-only industry showcase of a KT Tunstall avatar performance to demonstrate its capabilities, and reaches the market through partnerships with promoters and venue owners.
Recording artists and their creative teams, catalogue owners and estates, concert promoters and venue operators, plus consumer audiences for immersive live music events.
Geography
The company and its named partners, including London post-production facility Goldcrest, are associated with the United Kingdom.
History
Unit1 Studio launched publicly on 22 October 2025, led by CEO Barney Wragg, formerly CEO of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group (since renamed LW Entertainment) and previously in senior digital roles at AEG, EMI and Universal Music Group. Creative Director Jonathan Butterell is known for the West End musical and BAFTA-nominated film Everyone's Talking About Jamie, and Technical Director Pavle Mihajlovic co-founded video game studios Electric Saint and Flavourworks. John Kennedy, former CEO/Chairman of Universal Music UK and IFPI, sits on the board of directors. Backers named at launch include the VC fund Mercuri, Neil and Carey Taylor (also referred to as the Taylor Brothers) and artist manager and producer Paul McGuinness.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsUnit1 Studio publicly launched as an independent, end-to-end producer of avatar concerts, led by CEO Barney Wragg with Creative Director Jonathan Butterell and Technical Director Pavle Mihajlovic, and John Kennedy on the board.
Unit1 collaborated with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter KT Tunstall on an avatar performance of an immersive live set for invited industry guests, marking the 20th anniversary reissue of Eye To The Telescope, released by BMG and Virgin on 31 October 2025.
For the KT Tunstall showcase Unit1 partnered with Woodroffe Bassett Lighting Design, ROE Visual and Brompton Technology.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- Unit1unit1.studio · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Unit1 do?
- Unit1 Studio is an independent end-to-end producer of avatar concerts, staging photorealistic virtual performances of artists.
- Who are Unit1's investors?
- Unit1's investors include GMG Ventures, Mercuri.vc.