What Anagram does

Anagram is a London-based creative studio, with a satellite residency at the Pervasive Media Studio in Bristol, that designs and produces immersive XR experiences spanning virtual reality, mixed reality, augmented reality, spatial audio, and physical installations. Its core product is the twice Emmy-nominated Playing with Reality series — including Goliath (schizophrenia, Venice Grand Jury Prize 2021), Impulse (ADHD, Venice Immersive Achievement Award 2024), Amorphous (body image, DocLab Forum Award 2024), and Inside Mental Health (a healthcare-professional training programme developed with NHS and the University of the West of England). The studio also operates the prototype Realtime Stagemaker Unity toolkit for collaborative 3D experience development, and offers strategic consultancy and workshops to cultural institutions and brands.

Anagram's technology stack rests on Unity, proprietary multimodal interaction design (combining speech, spatial audio, facial recognition, and AR mirror mechanics), and bespoke narrative systems. Notable technical components include the Mixed Reality Documentary Integration approach used in Impulse, where the user's real environment reacts to narrative triggers, and the Multi-Sensorial AR Journey System underlying Messages to a Post Human Earth. The studio integrates computer vision and adaptive game mechanics into curated experiences, though AI is used as a staging tool rather than as a productized capability.

The business model combines one-time commissions and creative development fees for exhibitions, festivals, and cultural institutions; strategic consultancy (for example the Digital Experiences Playbook delivered to Tate Gallery); workshops and talks; and co-productions funded by cultural grants and broadcasters including BBC, France Télévisions, Arts Council England, BFI, CNC, City of Paris, and MyWorld. Distribution occurs through the international festival circuit, the Meta Quest store, dedicated storefronts such as impulse-xr.io, and commissioned exhibitions at museums and cultural venues. The studio is privately held, founder-owned, and operates with a team of 1-10.

Name

Anagram

Legal name

Anagram

Website

https://weareanagram.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Anagram is a London- and Bristol-based immersive XR creative studio producing award-winning VR, MR, and AR experiences for cultural institutions, healthcare bodies, broadcasters, and brands, anchored by its twice Emmy-nominated Playing with Reality mental health series.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Immersive Experience Studio Services

NAICS

Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (71151), Other Performing Arts Companies (711190), Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (711510), Graphic Design Services (54143)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Immersive/Interactive Animation (AR/VR/Real-Time) (MPAHACAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

AR/VR & Immersive Learning Content Development (EDAGAKAI), Serious Games & Simulation Studios (Training, Defense, Enterprise) (MPAFAAAH), Creator Tools & Content Pipelines for Immersive Learning (VR lesson builders, 3D asset workflows) (EDAFAJAL), Virtual Art Department (VAD) & Environment/Digital Matte Painting (MPADAHAG)

Keywords

• Immersive experience design
• VR AR storytelling
• Interactive documentary
• XR creative studio
• Extended reality consultancy

Headquarters

HQ city

Bristol

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Commissions & Creative Development: Developing original experiences for exhibitions, festivals and spaces from artistic direction to narrative, conceptual, and experience design for XR, theatre, and installation projects. Primary revenue stream from commissioned work.
2. Strategic Consultancy: Shaping strategy, frameworks and future-facing digital programmes for cultural institutions and brands. Projects include internal playbooks and strategic documents.
3. Talks & Workshops: International partnerships expanding immersive work across the US, UK and Europe. Educational workshops delivered to institutions and organizations.
4. Co-productions & Grants: Partnership funding with cultural institutions, public bodies, and broadcasters including Floréal, France Télévisions, BBC, and various arts councils for development.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Anagram creates bespoke VR, MR, AR, and physical immersive experiences for cultural institutions, healthcare bodies, and global brands, spanning artistic direction, narrative design, and technical development. The studio is best known for its twice-Emmy-nominated "Playing with Reality" series exploring stigmatised mental health conditions, and also offers strategic creative consultancy and educational workshops to organisations such as the NHS, BBC, Tate Gallery, and Google Creative Lab.

Product overview

Anagram is a multi-award-winning immersive experience studio that creates emotionally compelling, groundbreaking work across VR, MR, AR, and physical installation formats. The company's portfolio centres on the 'Playing with Reality' series — including Goliath, Impulse, Amorphous, and Inside Mental Health — which explores stigmatised mental health conditions through immersive storytelling. Beyond the XR flagship products, Anagram offers the Realtime Stagemaker Unity plugin for collaborative VR development, and provides creative development and consultancy services to cultural institutions, museums, and brands. Their work couples deep scientific research with innovative technical approaches, and has been commissioned by cultural institutions and public bodies internationally, including the NHS, BBC, Tate Gallery, and Google Creative Lab. The studio operates from London with a satellite presence at the Pervasive Media Studio in Bristol.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Playing with Reality: A series of VR, MR, and AR works narrated by Tilda Swinton, exploring stigmatised mental health conditions including Goliath (schizophrenia), Impulse (ADHD), and Amorphous (body image).

Products and services

• Playing with Reality Series An ongoing series of VR, MR, and AR works narrated by Tilda Swinton that explore stigmatised mental health conditions by questioning how we experience the world; serves cultural institutions, NHS health education, and public audiences.
• Goliath: Playing with Reality 25-minute animated VR experience exploring schizophrenia, gaming, and connection through the true story of Jon, guided by Tilda Swinton, designed for educational and healthcare audiences.
• Impulse: Playing with Reality 40-minute interactive mixed-reality documentary about ADHD following four people coming to terms with decisions that shaped their lives; mixed reality unfolds within the viewer's own environment with narrative-triggered chain reactions.
• Amorphous Multiplayer immersive experience exploring body and identity through storytelling, technology, and lived experience; combines AR mirror interaction with a VR body-transformation segment for cultural and public audiences.
• Inside Mental Health Immersive VR training programme for healthcare professionals that combines the Playing with Reality XR series with facilitated sessions using the Diamond Debrief methodology; built with the NHS and the University of the West of England.
• The Collider Two-person immersive experience exploring relationships, power, and connection by sharing a single VR headset between participants; designed for festivals and cultural venues.
• A Face to Open Doors AI-driven installation exploring bias, emotion, and the future of border control, where an AI officer assesses emotional expression via facial recognition to determine credibility within a speculative immigration system.
• Messages to a Post Human Earth Interactive multi-sensorial journey for two people combining audio narration, augmented reality, and physical props in natural environments; based on Stanislaw Lem's essay and Monica Gagliano's plant intelligence research.
• Ghosts of Solid Air Interactive augmented-reality phone experience using voice interaction to reveal a ghost world of historical radicals based on real people from the Trafalgar Square area; premiered at the 67th BFI London Film Festival.
• Door Into The Dark Immersive blindfold experience in which audiences navigate a labyrinth guided by rope and binaural soundscapes of real stories; uses spatial audio and responsive real-time technologies for festival and cultural audiences.
• Nightwatchers Immersive night-time phone-guided experience at the Tower of London exploring state surveillance, code-breakers, and Elizabethan secret-service origins, framed through contemporary themes of security and oppression.
• Make Noise Immersive voice-driven VR experience inspired by Suffragette archives, developed with the BBC VR Hub, where participants use their own voice to move through abstract environments representing stages of the women's suffrage movement.
• Now You See Me Interactive giant binocular sculptures for public spaces with real-time image morphing, originally commissioned by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Royal Shakespeare Company, accompanied by participatory workshops.
• W/O/R/K Collective immersive performance for hundreds of smartphone users simultaneously that explores collaboration, control, and collective purpose, using custom software for synchronized audio across devices.
• Universal Motherhood Immersive exhibition following five women across the globe navigating pregnancy and childbirth, combining photography, video, soundscape, and installation; created for Save the Children and GSK.
• Subconscious Immersive audio installation where participants lie inside a white orb and are guided by 7-point surround sound into a dreamlike landscape exploring the subconscious mind, commissioned by We The Curious.
• Nowville Evolving interactive paper-city installation exploring memory, place, and collective experience, presented at King's College London's Arcade where visitors contributed to building a collective vision of a future city.
• Realtime Stagemaker Prototype Unity toolkit enabling multi-disciplinary teams to collaborate in real time when developing early-stage 3D experiences, allowing co-designing, testing, and adjusting of elements such as positioning, scale, and pacing.
• Creative Development & Consultancy Strategic consultancy services including Digital Experiences Playbook development, immersive storytelling frameworks, and workshops for cultural institutions, brands, and organisations; clients include Tate Gallery, National Science and Media Museum, and Volkswagen Group.

Quantifiable outcome

• 90% of participants reported increased empathy toward people with ADHD
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability9 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• FloréalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer on Impulse: Playing with Reality and Goliath: Playing with Reality. Long-term production partner contributing to development and co-production of major works.
• France TélévisionscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer on Impulse: Playing with Reality. Major public broadcaster partner for French co-production.
• Meta VR for Good (Oculus VR for Good)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported development of Goliath: Playing with Reality through the Oculus VR for Good programme. Provides platform and funding for impactful VR experiences.
• BBC VR HubcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated on Make Noise immersive VR experience. BBC VR Hub commissions and supports innovative VR projects.
• The Smartphone OrchestraminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDutch collective collaborated with Anagram to create W/O/R/K, a new kind of shared mobile experience for IDFA DocLab.
• AgogcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUS philanthropic organization that commissioned the Impulse Impact Study to assess the real-world social impact of the Impulse experience. Major supporter of research and impact measurement.
• Undershed (Watershed)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVenue in Bristol that hosted Impulse from October-November 2025, supporting data collection for the Impact Study. Partner in research and presentation.
• XR ACADEMIAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerExpert researchers led by Dr. Alexandra Sierra partnered with Anagram to design and execute comprehensive impact methodology for Impulse study.
• UCL (University College London)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDr. Sandra Gaudenzi of UCL collaborated on the Impulse Impact Study methodology and research design.
• NHScoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHS partnered on Inside Mental Health immersive training experience for healthcare professionals, testing and implementing the programme.
• University of the West of EnglandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner in developing Inside Mental Health programme, testing with students and healthcare professionals.
• Tate GallerycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic consultancy client. Worked with Tate's Digital Experience team to develop a Digital Experiences Playbook.
• Digital CatapultcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported The Collider and Goliath development. UK authority on advanced digital technology innovation.
• Watershed Pervasive Media StudiocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBristol studio where Anagram is in residence. Supported The Collider development.
• National Theatre Storytelling StudiominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported development of The Collider.
• La Biennale di Venezia - Biennale College Cinema VRcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVenice Biennale programme developed Goliath: Playing with Reality through the VR workshop.
• Adam Mickiewicz InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned Messages to a Post Human Earth in collaboration with IDFA DocLab R&D Program in Amsterdam.
• Google Creative LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as global collaborator alongside cultural institutions and brands worldwide.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Penrose Studios: VR storytelling studio creating cinematic animated VR experiences. Comparable in high-production VR narrative content targeting headset platforms.
• Marshmallow Laser Feast: London-based immersive experience studio creating award-winning VR, AR, and large-scale installations. Most direct comparable in mission, scale, and cultural-institution client base.
• Atlas V: Immersive storytelling studio producing VR narrative experiences with international co-productions. Directly comparable in festival-led distribution model and documentary-meets-fiction XR storytelling.
• Innerspace VR: Paris-based immersive VR studio producing narrative and documentary VR experiences for cultural institutions. Closely comparable in French co-production financing, festival strategy, and XR documentary focus.
• Felix & Paul Studios: Montreal immersive VR content studio known for high-profile narrative and documentary VR with institutional and brand partnerships. Comparable in immersive documentary storytelling and festival recognition.
• Baobab Studios: Emmy-winning immersive animation studio behind VR animated shorts. Comparable in Emmy-level recognition, animated VR storytelling, and creator-led studio model.
• Tender Claws: LA-based studio building VR/AR games and experiences including theatrical immersive work. Comparable in fusing gaming mechanics with narrative immersion.
• Darkfield: London immersive theatre company using binaural audio and sensor-based experiences. Comparable in sensory immersion techniques (e.g., Door Into The Dark's blindfold + binaural model) and UK cultural-institution circuit.
• Emblematic Group: Immersive VR studio producing socially impactful narrative VR including journalism. Comparable in mission-driven immersive storytelling, festival circuit presence, and platform partnerships.

Others

• Kaleidoscope: Investor and community platform focused on immersive/VR creators, hosting showcases and funding XR projects. Comparable as an ecosystem enabler for studios like Anagram rather than a direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/weareanagram
• Instagraminstagram.com/weareanagram

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 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 Anagram