London-based avatar concert producer Unit1 Studio has raised $20 million in an oversubscribed equity round led by Balderton Capital, alongside production financing for shows in development. The funding supports the company’s effort to make avatar concerts cheaper and easier to reproduce, potentially allowing more artists and venues to use the format beyond high-cost, single-location productions such as ABBA Voyage.

Unit1 says it has completed the first transfer of an intact avatar concert production between venues, moving a KT Tunstall showcase from west London to a purpose-built studio at Tileyard London in four days, including recalibration. Existing investors Mercuri, Gilston Music and former U2 manager Paul McGuinness joined the round; the company has also added former Universal Music UK and IFPI chief John Kennedy as a non-executive director and hired creators who worked on major film and avatar projects.