Emperia
Emperia is a London-based software company (founded 2019) that provides a no-code platform, built on Unreal Engine 5, for creating and managing immersive 3D virtual stores. It serves enterprise retailers and luxury brands including Walmart, Dior, Hugo Boss, and Bloomingdale's via bespoke projects and tiered SaaS subscriptions.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Emperia does
Emperia is a London-headquartered software company founded in 2019 that builds a no-code platform for creating, deploying, and managing immersive 3D virtual retail experiences for luxury, beauty, and mass-market brands. The platform is built on Unreal Engine 5 and converts 3D designs into cross-device web, mobile, tablet, and VR experiences — including Apple Vision Pro — without requiring pixel streaming or asset optimization, using 8K 360-degree panoramas with click-to-go movement. Core products include Emperia Creator Tools (the no-code creation platform), Artemis (a virtual store management SaaS for brand merchandising teams), Procedural Generation Tools, AI 3D Models for converting product imagery into 3D assets, and a Spatial Analytics suite for behavioral reporting.
The company's enterprise customer base spans luxury fashion, beauty, department store, and digital-native brands including Walmart, Dior Beauty, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Bloomingdale's, Ralph Lauren, L'Occitane, Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger, Tatcha, Skinceuticals (L'Oréal), Nespresso, Dom Perignon, Giorgio Armani, and PINKO. Bespoke virtual stores are built in collaboration with agency and studio partners such as Sawhorse Studios (Walmart Realm) and Invisible North (Skinceuticals), with brand-side integrations to Shopify for live inventory and in-experience checkout, Arianee for NFT/token-gated VIP experiences, and Ready Player Me for avatars.
Emperia monetizes through two complementary streams: tiered SaaS subscriptions on Creator Tools (Free for non-commercial, Pro at $9/month, Studio from $200/month, and Enterprise custom pricing) targeting creators, studios, and SMBs, and professional services revenue from bespoke virtual store design, development, and ongoing support for enterprise clients. The company is privately held, has raised approximately $11.2M across a 2021 seed round and a $10M Series A in January 2023 led by Base10 Partners, operates London and New York offices, and has been recognized through Webby Awards (2023, 2025), AIXR XR Marketing Campaign of the Year 2024, and Forbes 30 Under 30 (2025) for both co-founders.
Emperia firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Emperia
- Legal name
- Emperia
- Website
- https://emperiavr.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Emperia is a London-based software company (founded 2019) that provides a no-code platform, built on Unreal Engine 5, for creating and managing immersive 3D virtual stores. It serves enterprise retailers and luxury brands including Walmart, Dior, Hugo Boss, and Bloomingdale's via bespoke projects and tiered SaaS subscriptions.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Emperia industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Immersive Commerce Platform
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Software Publishers (513210), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)
- akta.pro primary industry
- XR/AR/VR/MR Development Frameworks & Toolchains (MPAFAFAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Interactive & Immersive Content Production (AR/VR/3D) (BPAFAIAL), Mobile/Digital Experiential (AR/VR, Interactive Installations) (MPAAAGAI), Brand Activations & Experiential Campaign Design (MPAAAGAA)
Keywords
Where Emperia is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
Emperia business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- SaaS Platform Subscriptions: Tiered SaaS subscription model with four plans: Free (for students/personal projects), Pro ($9/month for freelancers), Studio (from $200/month for studios/start-ups), and Enterprise (custom pricing for large organizations). Revenue is generated through recurring monthly/annual subscription fees with additional charges for excess storage and bandwidth usage. The subscription provides access to Creator Tools, deployment infrastructure, analytics, and commerce features depending on tier.
- Professional Services & Custom Development: Emperia designs and develops bespoke virtual stores for major luxury and fashion brands (Dior Beauty, Walmart, Hugo Boss, Bloomingdale's, Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, L'Occitane, etc.). Revenue is generated through custom project fees for design, development, and ongoing support of immersive virtual retail experiences.
- Creator Tools Licensing: The Creator Tools platform is offered as a licensed tool to creators, studios, and enterprises. Additional revenue is generated from add-on services such as white-label deployments, custom UI development, API integrations, and managed SaaS hosting for enterprise clients.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier for students and personal projects. Unreal Engine knowledge required. |
| Subscription | Monthly | Pro tier for freelancers with expanded features and commercial use rights. |
| Subscription | Monthly | Studio tier for studios and start-ups with full commerce and analytics tools. |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise tier for organizations and large-scale solutions with unlimited resources and dedicated support. |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
Emperia product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Emperia builds a no-code virtual world creation platform on Unreal Engine 5 that enables retail and luxury brands to deploy photorealistic, interactive virtual stores and immersive shopping experiences. The company complements this with Creator Tools, a SaaS offering for creators and studios, and Artemis, a backend platform for managing virtual stores at scale.
Product overview
Emperia is a commerce-driven immersive virtual world creation platform consisting of core technology components: the Emperia Virtual World Creation Platform (main platform) and Emperia Creator Tools (no-code development solution for Unreal Engine 5). Supporting products include AI 3D Models (generative AI for asset creation), Procedural Generation Tools (automated environment building), and Artemis (virtual store management SaaS). The platform offers industry-specific solutions including Virtual Clothing Store, Virtual Grocery Store, Virtual Shopping Mall, and Virtual Real Estate Tour Platform. Additional capabilities include Apple Vision Pro spatial computing support and Spatial Analytics for real-time performance tracking. The ecosystem integrates with Shopify for e-commerce, Ready Player Me for avatars, and Arianee for NFT token-gated experiences. Average engagement time of 6 minutes, 650% average ROI, and 73% conversion rate uplift are claimed platform metrics.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Creator Tools: A no-code solution which empowers creators, studios and enterprises to convert their 3D designs into fully-functional, cross-device virtual worlds, directly from Unreal Engine 5.
- Artemis
Products and services
- Emperia Virtual World Creation Platform No-code platform on Unreal Engine 5 that lets retail and luxury brands build, render, and deploy photorealistic interactive virtual stores and immersive shopping experiences.
- Emperia Creator Tools Self-serve SaaS toolset that enables creators, 3D studios, and freelancers to author and publish virtual worlds and immersive experiences without coding.
- Artemis Virtual Store Management Platform Backend management platform that lets enterprise clients operate, update, and merchandise virtual stores across deployments.
- Virtual Clothing Store Configured virtual store solution tailored for fashion and apparel retailers, enabling branded virtual shopping experiences for clothing brands.
- Virtual Grocery Store Configured virtual store solution tailored for grocery retailers, enabling interactive virtual shopping across food and household categories.
- Virtual Shopping Mall Multi-brand virtual shopping mall environment that aggregates multiple retail tenants inside one immersive destination.
- Virtual Real Estate Tour Platform Virtual tour platform configured for real estate clients to showcase and market properties in immersive 3D.
Quantifiable outcome
- 80% development cost reduction using Emperia Creator Tools compared to traditional pixel streaming approaches
- +7 more outcomes
Companies that use Emperia
Customer profileNamed customers16 records
Segments8 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Emperia technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability8 records
Feature8 records
Emperia partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- ShopifycoreEmperia's virtual store platform integrates directly with Shopify for e-commerce functionality. This includes live stock availability, product catalog synchronization, and in-experience checkout. The Shopify integration is a core component of Emperia's commerce tools offering, enabling brands to connect their existing Shopify stores to virtual shopping experiences.
- Apple Vision ProcoreEmperia's platform supports deployment to Apple Vision Pro spatial computing device. The company offers dedicated Vision Pro development and deployment capabilities, with experiences designed to blend digital and physical worlds in the headset. Emperia positions Vision Pro as a key platform for the future of omnichannel retail.
- Unreal Engine 5 (Epic Games)coreEmperia's platform is built on Unreal Engine 5, using its rendering capabilities to deliver hyper-realistic 3D graphics with unlimited polycount and 8K textures without asset optimization requirements. This is the foundational technology underlying Emperia's visual quality and cross-device deployment capabilities.
- Sawhorse StudiosmajorCollaborative partner in the development of Walmart Realm, working alongside Emperia to build the immersive virtual shopping destination. Sawhorse Studios contributed to the creative and technical execution of the Walmart Realm platform.
- Invisible NorthminorInvisible North created the Skinceuticals Virtual Clinic experience using Emperia's Creator Tools for Skinceuticals (L'Oréal). Invisible North acts as an agency partner deploying the Emperia platform for the client.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Emperia competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Landvault: Landvault creates metaverse brand experiences, virtual worlds, and immersive activations for enterprises, overlapping with Emperia's bespoke experiential work for fashion and consumer brands.
- ByondXR: ByondXR provides a no-code platform for brands to create 3D virtual stores, showrooms, and immersive shopping experiences, overlapping directly with Emperia's Creator Tools and Artemis platform proposition.
- Emersya: Emersya offers a 3D and AR commerce platform for retailers and brands to publish interactive product visualizations and virtual showrooms, competing for the same SMB-to-enterprise retail 3D commerce use case as Emperia.
- Marxent Labs: Marxent's VisualCommerce platform powers 3D product visualization, AR, and virtual showrooms for furniture and retail, sharing Emperia's focus on cross-device 3D commerce with Shopify-style backend integration.
- Obsess: Obsess builds immersive 3D virtual stores and shopping experiences for fashion and retail brands, directly competing with Emperia's enterprise virtual-store offering for the same luxury and retail customer base (e.g., Ulta Beauty, Tommy Hilfiger).
- Vntana: Vntana offers a 3D asset management and visualization platform for retail, e-commerce, and metaverse experiences, competing with Emperia on 3D commerce infrastructure and Shopify integrations.
- Zero10: Zero10 builds AR try-on and virtual fashion experiences for luxury and streetwear brands, addressing the same fashion/beauty customer set as Emperia with overlapping immersive commerce capabilities.
- Sayduck: Sayduck provides 3D and AR product visualization tools for retail and e-commerce, targeting a comparable brand and retailer base with self-serve and SaaS tooling similar to Emperia Creator Tools.
Broad incumbents
- Dimension Studio: Dimension Studio is a broader immersive content and virtual production studio serving fashion, entertainment, and enterprise with volumetric capture and real-time 3D, overlapping with Emperia's bespoke virtual-store content work.
- Shopify (Shopify AR / 3D): Shopify's native AR/3D product visualization and commerce infrastructure is an incumbent platform risk: it bundles 3D commerce functionality into the e-commerce backbone many Emperia customers already use, potentially commoditizing parts of Emperia's offering.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Emperia social profiles
Digital presenceEmperia financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Emperia leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Emperia funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors8 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Emperia M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Emperia
What does Emperia do?
Emperia builds a no-code virtual world creation platform on Unreal Engine 5 that enables retail and luxury brands to deploy photorealistic, interactive virtual stores and immersive shopping experiences. The company complements this with Creator Tools, a SaaS offering for creators and studios, and Artemis, a backend platform for managing virtual stores at scale.
Is Emperia a public or private company?
Emperia is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Emperia founded?
Emperia was founded in 2019. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Emperia based?
Emperia is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Emperia make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. SaaS Platform Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are professional Services & Custom Development and creator Tools Licensing.
Who are Emperia's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Landvault, ByondXR, Emersya, Marxent Labs, Obsess, Vntana, Zero10 and Sayduck. Broad incumbents are Dimension Studio and Shopify (Shopify AR / 3D).
Does Emperia have an API?
No public API is recorded for Emperia.
What industry is Emperia in?
Emperia's product category is Immersive Commerce Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAFAFAF, XR/AR/VR/MR Development Frameworks & Toolchains, with a secondary code of BPAFAIAL, Interactive & Immersive Content Production (AR/VR/3D). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.