Wave

What Wave does

Wave (WaveXR, Inc.) is a Los Angeles-based virtual entertainment company founded around 2017 by musicians with deep XR expertise that operates an immersive 3D live entertainment platform for artists, music fans, and rights holders. Its core offering is a 24/7 hub of live, bi-directionally interactive virtual concerts ("Waves") in which performers and audiences influence each other in real time, supported by an in-house XR performance studio (Wave Stage) in Culver City that combines a 20ft x 9ft curved LED wall, 10ft x 10ft LED floor, motion capture, pro-grade audio, and Unreal Engine-based rendering. Performers can shape lighting, soundscapes, and effects live via MIDI controllers and foot pedals, including a "Peak State" overdrive mode, while audiences attend via a Meta Quest 3/3S VR app or a 2D interactive livestream on Wave's private Discord.

The company's customer base spans independent and marquee musicians, major record labels, and gaming/entertainment companies. Marquee partners and performers named in the source data include Warner Music Group, Riot Games, TikTok, Tencent Music Entertainment, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Calvin Harris, Dillon Francis, Imogen Heap, Lindsey Stirling, Galantis, and Glitch Mob, alongside a continuous slate of mid-tier and indie artists (Reid Speed, Haywyre, Luis Torres, slenderbodies, Kaash Paige, Brian McKnight Jr.) participating in seasonal residencies. Wave has raised approximately $42.5M in disclosed funding across rounds from 2016-2020, with strategic backing from Tencent Music Entertainment and celebrity cash from Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, and J Balvin.

The business model is in transition. Historically, Wave generated revenue from bespoke virtual concert production partnerships with artists, labels, and platforms (e.g., The Weeknd's TikTok virtual concert drew 2M+ viewers and raised $350,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative). Since the October 17, 2024 Closed Beta launch, consumer access is free via a referral-based waitlist, with future monetization planned across paid services (processed through Stripe), virtual goods, advertising, and sponsored shows. The company is privately held, employs 251-500 people, and is headquartered in Los Angeles with its Wave Stage production facility in Culver City.

Name

Wave

Legal name

WaveXR, Inc.

Website

https://wavexr.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Wave (WaveXR, Inc.) is a Los Angeles-based immersive entertainment company producing live, bi-directionally interactive virtual concerts via VR (Meta Quest 3/3S) and Discord 2D livestream, serving music artists, labels, and fans through its Wave Stage XR studio and Unreal Engine platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Immersive Virtual Concert Platform

NAICS

Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210), Record Production and Distribution (51225)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Virtual Concerts & Music Festivals (Livestreamed Performances) (MPAGAOAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Music & Concert Video Streaming Platforms (MPACAAAI)

Keywords

• Virtual concerts
• Immersive entertainment
• Live music streaming
• XR performances
• Metaverse events

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Beta access (free during beta): Currently no cost to participate in Wave Beta; monetization is explicitly stated as a future possibility but focus during beta is on feedback and platform refinement.
2. Paid Services (planned): Certain Services may be subject to payments now or in the future; billing processed through Stripe, Inc. Payment Processor with a linked Billing Account.
3. Virtual Goods: Users may earn, buy, or purchase virtual currency (coins, cash, tokens, points) and virtual in-game items; Virtual Goods are licensed (not owned), non-redeemable for cash, and non-transferable except as expressly allowed.
4. Advertising / sponsored shows: Marketing cookies and interest-based ads served by third-party ad networks; potential for branded/sponsored virtual performances.
5. Strategic artist/label partnerships and brand integrations: Partnerships with Warner Music Group, Riot Games, TikTok, Calvin Harris, and others for branded virtual concerts and content collaborations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Wave operates Wave Beta, a real-time immersive virtual concert platform that streams live "Waves" — fully-produced 3D performances captured in its proprietary Wave Stage XR studio in Culver City — to fans via Meta Quest 3/3S in VR and via an interactive 2D livestream on Discord, with built-in bi-directional interactivity between performers and audiences. Beyond the consumer platform, Wave produces branded virtual concerts and immersive experiences for labels, brands, and rights holders (including partnerships with Warner Music Group, TikTok, Riot Games/Valorant, and OneOf), and is building artist-facing creative tools and rights-management infrastructure to expand live immersive entertainment.

Product overview

Wave's offering is a single unified platform branded as Wave (operating in Wave Beta) that combines a 24/7 immersive 3D entertainment destination with a set of integrated production modules. The core platform, Wave Beta, delivers Waves — the company's live virtual shows — across two access endpoints: VR via a Meta Quest 3/3S-native app and a 2D interactive livestream on Wave's private Discord server. Sitting on top of that platform, Wave Stage is the company's XR performance-space module in Los Angeles that captures performers in real time, and the content creation tools module powers faster, cheaper show production. Together, Wave Beta, Waves, Wave Stage, the Discord interactive livestream, and the content creation tools form an artist-first stack for live, bi-directionally interactive entertainment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Wave Stage: XR performance studio located in Culver City (Los Angeles), California; a fully integrated hardware and software live-performance space featuring a 20-foot by 9-foot curved LED wall, 10-foot by 10-foot LED floor, and pro-grade audio for bi-directional interactivity between performers and audiences.
• Wave Beta
• Wave Makers

Products and services

• Wave Beta
• Waves (live virtual concerts)
• Wave Stage
• Branded and partnership virtual concerts

Quantifiable outcome

• The Weeknd TikTok virtual concert drew over 2M viewers and raised $350,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability5 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Warner Music GroupflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerWarner Music Group entered a strategic partnership with Wave to produce more celebrity virtual concerts (Rolling Stone coverage).
• Riot GamesflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerRiot Games partnered with Wave to shape interactive virtual experiences (Hollywood Reporter).
• TikTokflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerWave created interactive shows on TikTok with global artists such as The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, and Calvin Harris, including a Calvin Harris special immersive concert experience on TikTok LIVE.
• OneOfcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWave launched its first NFT collection in collaboration with OneOf and artist Teflon Sega (VentureBeat, 2022).
• HyperXminorGTM or Marketing PartnerHyperX published a feature on how Wave is fueling virtual entertainment experiences through gaming and innovation.
• Meta (Quest)flagshipTechnology or IntegrationWave Beta is distributed on the Meta Quest platform supporting Quest 3 and Quest 3S headsets; users access the app via Meta Account email and Meta Horizon distribution.
• DiscordcoreTechnology or IntegrationWave hosts its private Discord server as the primary community hub for Beta updates, show schedules, support, and bug reports; serves as the 2D interactive livestream endpoint for Waves.
• Stripe, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationStripe serves as Wave's third-party payment processor for Paid Services, collecting payment card information through a linked Billing Account per the Terms of Use.
• Calvin HarrisflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCalvin Harris performed a special immersive concert experience on TikTok LIVE produced with Wave (TikTok newsroom).
• Teflon SegacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNFT artist and Wave advisor; co-created Wave's first NFT collection with OneOf and continues to collaborate on artist programming.
• Dillon FranciscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArtist collaborator who joined Wave for a virtual show featuring interactive fan gifting of dancing avocados.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Epic Games (Fortnite): Epic hosts mega-scale virtual concerts inside Fortnite (Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd) and controls a much larger mainstream audience. It is the most credible competing destination for immersive virtual shows, though it is a general gaming platform rather than a music-first venue like Wave.
• Roblox: Roblox runs immersive concerts and brand experiences for artists (Lil Nas X, Twenty One Pilots) on a user-generated 2D/3D platform. It competes for the same artist and label virtual-concert budgets as Wave, but with a far larger audience and 2D-first distribution.
• Live Nation Entertainment: Live Nation is the world's largest live entertainment company and is actively investing in virtual and immersive formats. It competes broadly for artist touring dollars and could partner or compete with Wave on virtual concert IP and touring economics.

Direct peers

• Stageverse: Stageverse builds immersive, interactive virtual concert and event venues for artists and brands in VR and on the web. It is the closest direct competitor to Wave's immersive concert platform with a similar artist-first positioning and live, interactive shows.
• Sensorium (Sensorium Galaxy): Sensorium develops VR/metaverse entertainment experiences including virtual concerts with major EDM and pop artists. It overlaps directly with Wave on VR-first immersive live music targeting global audiences.

Emerging players

• VRChat: VRChat is a large user-generated VR social platform that hosts community-driven concerts and live events. It is comparable to Wave on the VR entertainment destination axis, though it is community-driven rather than artist-first and curated.
• Rec Room: Rec Room is a cross-platform social VR app that hosts live events, concerts, and creator-built experiences. It competes for VR headset attention on Meta Quest — the same distribution channel Wave relies on — and overlaps on live entertainment use cases.
• Decentraland: Decentraland runs blockchain-based virtual events and concerts (including major music festivals). It overlaps with Wave's earlier NFT/Web3 experiments with OneOf and competes for the same forward-looking immersive music experiences category.

Others

• Disguise (d3): Disguise provides the technology behind many large-scale virtual production stages and live events (e.g., ABBA Voyage, major tours). It is an enabling infrastructure peer to Wave's Wave Stage capture pipeline rather than a direct concert competitor.

Regional players

• HYBE / Weverse (formerly Weverse Company): HYBE-backed Weverse is a leading fan platform hosting immersive artist content and virtual events primarily for K-pop artists. It is comparable to Wave's label/artist ecosystem play, but skews Korean/Asian and is integrated with one major label group.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thewavevr
• Instagraminstagram.com/thewavexr
• Xx.com/TheWaveXR

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors29 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wave