ZU-UK

What ZU-UK does

ZU-UK (legal entity Zecora Ura Theatre) is a London-based private theatre and digital arts company specializing in immersive, participatory performance. Founded by co-Artistic Directors Persis Jadé Maravala and Jorge Lopes Ramos, with DRIFT International established in 2006, the company designs and produces audio-driven, VR-enabled, and site-responsive experiences including Radio Ghost, Within Touching Distance, Binaural Dinner Date, Pick Me Up (& Hold Me Tight), Project Perfect Stranger/PlagueRound, Deceleration, RioFoneHack, and Viva the Live!. Its technical platform combines spatial audio, binaural sound, VR headsets, touch synchronization, locative ambisonics, and Arduino-based sensor systems to create interactive audience experiences across shopping centres, public phones, custom venues, and online channels.

The company operates a multi-stream revenue model comprising ticket sales, custom commissions from festivals and arts institutions (LIFT Festival, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Sheffield DocFest, IndieCade), venue hire at the GAS Station in East London, university talks and workshops, and remote/virtual workshop delivery. Distribution is event-driven and festival-led, with strategic academic partnerships at the University of Greenwich (Centre for Creative Futures), University of Dundee (InGAME), and Concordia University (TAG) providing R&D pipelines. ZU-UK serves Arts Institutions, Festivals, Universities, and selectively Healthcare Organizations (via Within Touching Distance), with audiences and commissioning clients concentrated in the UK and selected international engagements in Brazil, Colombia, Canada, and Macao. Operating with 1-10 employees, the company has been primarily grant- and crowdfunding-funded, including a £15,000 Crowdfunder raise in 2018 and an Innovate UK grant of $62,224 in 2023.

Name

ZU-UK

Legal name

Zecora Ura Theatre

Website

https://zu-uk.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ZU-UK is a London-based private immersive theatre and digital arts company that designs audio-driven, VR-enabled, and site-responsive participatory performances, serving festivals, arts institutions, and universities through commissions, venue hire, and educational programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Immersive Theatre and Participatory Performance

NAICS

Other Performing Arts Companies (711190), Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512), Other Sound Recording Industries (512290)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAGAOAF

Virtual Theater, Comedy & Performing Arts (Digital Performances)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Live Entertainment & Events (Concerts, Theater, Festivals)/Virtual & Hybrid Events

SECONDARYMPAFAAAE

VR/AR/XR Game Studios

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Gaming & Interactive Entertainment (Video Games, Esports)/Game Development Studios (PC/Console/Mobile)

SECONDARYMPAGABAM

Performing Arts Centers & Presenters (Programming/Booking)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Live Entertainment & Events (Concerts, Theater, Festivals)/Theater, Broadway & Performing Arts

SECONDARYMPAIAIAD

Cloud Collaboration & Remote Recording Platforms

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Music & Audio (Recording, Publishing, Streaming)/Music Technology & Software (DAWs, Plugins, Music Apps)

Keywords

• Immersive theatre
• Participatory performance
• Site-responsive theatre
• Spatial audio art
• Artist residency programs

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Revenue from on-site performance admissions and ticket-based shows
2. Commissions: Custom commissions from arts institutions, festivals, and venues for bespoke immersive productions
3. Space Rental (GAS Station): Revenue from hiring out GAS Station venue and creative spaces to other artists and organisations
4. Educational Programs: University talks, workshops, and educational sessions generating revenue from academic institutions
5. Remote Workshops: Virtual and remote workshop delivery to distributed audiences

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ZU-UK is an award-winning immersive theatre and digital arts company that creates participatory performance experiences combining spatial audio, binaural sound, VR, and touch synchronization with interactive storytelling. The company produces and tours a portfolio of named productions (such as Radio Ghost, Within Touching Distance, Binaural Dinner Date, Pick Me Up (& Hold Me Tight), and Deceleration) and also operates the DRIFT International artist residency program and the GAS Station creative venue in East London.

Product overview

ZU-UK is an award-winning theatre and digital art company specializing in immersive performance and participatory theatre. The company operates a portfolio of interactive experience products including Radio Ghost (audio walking game), Within Touching Distance (VR experience), Binaural Dinner Date (interactive dating performance), Pick Me Up (& Hold Me Tight) (public pay-phone experience), Project Perfect Stranger/PlagueRound (WhatsApp and live game-show), Deceleration (audio instruction experience), RioFoneHack (public audio artwork), and Viva the Live! (international digital event). Supporting these core experiences are the DRIFT International artist residency programme and GAS Station space hire venue. The company works with spatial audio, VR, touch synchronization, augmented audio, and locative ambisonics technologies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DRIFT International: An intensive professional development programme for emerging artists created in 2006, providing tools for multi-disciplinary collaboration and opportunities for personal development and experimentation with local audiences.

Products and services

• Radio Ghost An audio-driven, app-based interactive walking game for shopping centres in which solo players join teams of three to navigate portals into haunted dimensions as ghost hunters. Designed for festival and venue audiences seeking participatory, technology-enhanced performance.
• Within Touching Distance A one-on-one 35-minute immersive show combining VR, binaural sound, and live performer touch to take a single audience member through a journey from childhood to adulthood and old age, exploring touch, empathy, and psychological health and wellbeing. Written and directed by Persis Jadé Maravala.
• Viva the Live! An interactive livestream event crossing time and space between Brazil, the UK and Colombia, combining live broadcasts from creative collaborators with late-night infomercial and party energy to form a digital playground.
• Pick Me Up (& Hold Me Tight) An interactive public audio artwork responding to rising suicide rates in which all 34,000 UK public pay-phones ring simultaneously; participants pick up a ringing phone to experience interactive audio designed to encourage contemplation about listening and community connection.
• Project Perfect Stranger & PlagueRound Game-show A two-part experience: Project Perfect Stranger is a 5-day WhatsApp-based interaction with a complete stranger involving daily provocations and tasks, and PlagueRound is a live, interactive post-normal game-show exploring connection after the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Binaural Dinner Date Part interactive performance and part dating agency, in which a voice in the participant's ear via binaural sound guides them through a genuine date experience, with a Waiter and Matchmaker directing the urban ritual of dating.
• Deceleration An audio-led instruction-based individual experience guiding mind and body through a structured stage-by-stage interaction with rhythm, speed, and environment, using deceleration as a metaphor for a psychosocial approach to climate change.
• RioFoneHack at TBW A public audio artwork installed at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, in which a ringing phone triggers one of three audio experiences exploring meditation, the flow of the River Lea, and a journey into memory and distance, using sensors including pulse, motion, and voice driven by Arduino.
• DRIFT International An intensive 5-day urban residency programme for emerging artists providing tools for multi-disciplinary collaboration, personal development, and experimentation with local audiences; over 200 international artists have been mentored across 15 editions in more than ten countries.
• GAS Station Space Hire Flexible space hire at the GAS Station venue in East London, offering studios and industrial containers suitable for meetings, rehearsals, set construction, recordings, and performances, located five minutes from West Ham Station.

Quantifiable outcome

• 200+ artists mentored through DRIFT International

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of Greenwich (Centre for Creative Futures)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partnership with the Centre for Creative Futures at University of Greenwich for creative development and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• LIFT FestivalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFestival partnership for presenting immersive performance works. LIFT is a major international theatre festival.
• Future Fest & NestaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Future Fest innovation festival and Nesta innovation foundation for creative technology events.
• InGAME & University of DundeeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership with InGAME (Innovation for Games & Media) at University of Dundee for games and immersive arts research.
• British Council & DICEminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partnership with British Council and DICE for global distribution and cultural exchange of immersive works.
• Concordia University (TAG - Technoculture, Art, and Games)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational academic partnership with Concordia University's TAG research group for technoculture, art, and games collaboration.
• Queen Elizabeth Olympic ParkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVenue and location partnership at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for large-scale performances and events.
• Theatre Royal Stratford EastcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorVenue partnership for presenting site-responsive performances and interactive theatre shows.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Punchdrunk: UK-based pioneer of immersive theatre (Sleep No More) combining site-specific staging, audio design, and audience participation. Closest direct peer to ZU-UK in immersive, technology-augmented performance for adult audiences.
• Third Rail Projects: US-based immersive theatre company (Then She Fell) that, like ZU-UK, fuses intimate audience-performer interaction with carefully designed physical and sonic environments, and tours work internationally.
• Motus: UK/Italy-based interdisciplinary performance company creating immersive, participatory works that place audiences inside the action. Comparable in production scale, international touring, and audience-research practice.
• Darkfield: London-based immersive audio experience company using binaural and spatial sound in shipping containers. Direct overlap with ZU-UK's binaural-audio and site-responsive work (e.g., Binaural Dinner Date).
• Fuel Theatre: UK producer of experimental and immersive theatre, frequently commissioning site-responsive and interactive work. Overlaps with ZU-UK in festival programming and touring of new immersive formats.
• dreamthinkspeak: UK immersive theatre company producing site-responsive, multimedia performances that blend installation, narrative, and audience agency. Comparable to ZU-UK in scale, methodology, and festival-style touring model.
• Coney: UK interactive theatre company building playful audience-participation experiences and games. Comparable to ZU-UK in its focus on participation, game-mechanics, and R&D-style project work.

Broad incumbents

• teamLab: Japan-based digital art collective creating large-scale immersive, technology-driven installations. Comparable in use of immersive tech to engage audiences, though at much larger venue scale than ZU-UK.
• Meow Wolf: US-based large-scale immersive art company (House of Eternal Return) producing permanent, technology-rich, narrative installations. Adjacent incumbent that competes for the same festival and cultural-tourism demand as ZU-UK but at substantially greater scale.
• Secret Cinema: London-based immersive cinema/events company creating participatory reinterpretations of films. Adjacent incumbent targeting similar adult experiential audiences in the UK.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/iamzuuk
• Instagraminstagram.com/iamzuuk
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/about

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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 ZU-UK