PAN Studio

What PAN Studio does

PAN Studio is a London-based experience-production studio founded in 2011 that designs interactive installations and games at the intersection of technology, theatre, games, and art. The studio's portfolio spans SMS and GPS-based citywide installations (Hello Lamp Post, A Fork in the Road), consumer mobile games (Run An Empire on iPhone and Android), Bluetooth-driven hardware products (Alpha Beaters, Selphie), collaborative storytelling apps (An East Wind), mental health and social platforms (Elefriends for Mind, Echoice for Lambeth and Southwark Councils), and large-scale physical installations for clients including Historic Royal Palaces, the Design Museum, the British Council, the Houses of Parliament, and Marks & Spencer. Underlying technology combines SMS gateways, GPS/location-based services, Bluetooth, mobile web applications, and bespoke hardware prototyping, often delivered through co-design workshops with end users.

The studio operates on a professional services revenue model, generating income through bespoke project commissions scoped against each client's budget and brief. Work is acquired through direct relationships, competitive award programmes (notably Watershed's Playable City Award, which funded Hello Lamp Post's initial development), and the studio's earned media profile, including a 2014 Design of the Year nomination at the Design Museum alongside Oculus Rift and Citymapper. Repeat customers span cultural institutions, UK government and public-sector bodies, charities, and consumer-facing brands, with delivery executed by a founder-anchored team of 1-10 employees from Somerset House.

The only disclosed capital events are a £15,000 Kickstarter campaign (March 2014) and an Ordnance Survey Geovation Challenge grant (2014), both tied to Run An Empire, indicating a bootstrapped, project-funded operating posture rather than venture-backed scaling. Geographic reach, while not formally multi-continental, has been demonstrated through deployments in Bristol, Austin (Texas), Tokyo, Indianapolis, Moscow, and New York.

Name

PAN Studio

Legal name

Pan Studio

Website

https://panstudio.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

PAN Studio is a London-based, founder-led experience design studio (1-10 employees) that creates bespoke interactive installations, mobile games, and digital platforms for cultural institutions, government bodies, charities, and consumer brands.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Experience Design Services

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Co-Development, Porting & Remaster Studios (MPAFAAAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Strategy/4X/Management Game Studios (MPAFAAAK), Social/UGC & Sandbox Game Studios (Roblox-like) (MPAFAAAF)

Keywords

• Interactive experience design
• Public art installations
• Experiential design studio
• Location-based games
• Immersive installations

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Commissioned Project Work: PAN Studio creates bespoke interactive experiences commissioned by cultural institutions, government bodies, corporations, and NGOs. Projects include public art installations, digital platforms, immersive theatre experiences, and games. Revenue is generated through project fees based on scope, complexity, and client budgets.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

PAN Studio is an experience design studio that creates bespoke interactive installations and digital products at the intersection of technology, theatre, games, and art. They design and build commissioned projects such as SMS-based playful city platforms (Hello Lamp Post), GPS-based real-world strategy games (Run An Empire), branching-narrative storytelling systems (A Fork in the Road), multi-player collaborative mobile applications (An East Wind), Bluetooth hardware kits (Alpha Beaters), and large-scale public art installations for cultural institutions, government bodies, charities, and corporations.

Product overview

PAN Studio is an experience design studio that creates interactive, technology-driven installations and digital products at the intersection of theatre, games, and public art. The company does not offer a single unified software product but rather a portfolio of named projects and experiential works spanning public art installations, immersive theatre experiences, playful mobile products, digital platforms, and visual communication campaigns. Core products include Hello Lamp Post (an SMS-based playful city platform connecting people with street furniture), Run An Empire (a GPS-based real-world strategy running game for iPhone and Android), A Fork in the Road (a branching-narrative storytelling platform using city streets as its framework), An East Wind (a four-player collaborative storytelling mobile application for Historic Royal Palaces), and Alpha Beaters (a Bluetooth-controlled drum beater kit for children). Additional products span mental health support platforms (Elefriends), geolocated exploration apps (Seldom Seen), Twitter-powered installations (Swing Vote), EEG-based immersive experiences (EEG Controlled Seance), and large-scale public art installations. The studio also provides services across six work types: Public Art, Immersive Experiences, Games and Playful Products, Digital Platforms, Visual Communications, and Research and Strategies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Hello Lamp Post A playful SMS-based city-wide installation platform that invites people to strike up text-message conversations with familiar street furniture (lamp posts, post boxes, benches, parking meters) using the unique maintenance codes already printed on those objects. Designed for cultural institutions and city-wide public engagement.
• Run An Empire A real-world strategy running game for iPhone and Android in which players compete with neighbours to own territory by running, walking, or jogging around it. Uses GPS to record player paths and converts them into capturable hexagonal or square tiles. Targeted at consumer mobile users.
• Alpha Beaters

Quantifiable outcome

• 50,000+ messages from citizens across three continents for Hello Lamp Post installations
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Historic Royal PalacescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative development of An East Wind, a collaborative storytelling experience for Historic Royal Palaces' Lost Palaces commission. Players follow the story of the Glorious Revolution at the site of the lost Palace of Whitehall.
• WatershedcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWatershed's Playable City Award 2013 provided funding and support for initial development of Hello Lamp Post, a project that has since expanded to multiple cities.
• British CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBritish Council produced and commissioned Hello Lamp Post Tokyo launch at Roppongi Art Night 2015.
• Design MuseumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-commissioned Swing Vote installation with Houses of Parliament for Design Museum's Future is Here exhibition.
• Houses of ParliamentminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-commissioned Swing Vote twitter-powered installation with Design Museum for public engagement on 3D printing regulation.
• MindcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-designed the new Elefriends mental health peer support platform with existing community members through workshop-based research.
• Jump Studios and UnityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Jump Studios and Unity to build Shwop Lab pop-up space for Marks & Spencer and Oxfam.
• Art GeneminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Art Gene in Barrow-in-Furness to develop Seldom Seen geolocated application for Morecambe Bay.
• Bompas & ParrminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned by Bompas & Parr to design Kentucky Derby arcade game for Funland Exhibition at Museum of Sex, New York.
• Resolving ChaosminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerWorked with Resolving Chaos to design and build Echoice budget management platform for Big Lottery funded programme.
• ConeyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Coney on Better Than Life interactive theatre piece, designing cross-reality experiences between online and live audiences.
• Seth KriebelminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBuilt An East Wind collaborative storytelling experience with game designer Seth Kriebel.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Random International: London-based collaborative studio for contemporary art and design, known for large-scale interactive installations (e.g. Rain Room). Directly comparable in producing technology-driven, audience-participatory installations for museums and cultural institutions.
• Marshmallow Laser Feast: London-based experiential art collective producing immersive installations combining VR, light, sound, and physical environments. Shares PAN Studio's model of bespoke commissions for cultural institutions and brands, with a similar small-team creative-studio structure.
• Blast Theory: Brighton-based interactive art group creating mixed-reality games, installations and performances that probe the social and political impact of technology. Directly comparable in working at the intersection of games, theatre, and public engagement for cultural and institutional commissioners.
• Bompas & Parr: London-based multidisciplinary experience design studio specialising in immersive food-based installations, architectural experiences, and multi-sensory events. Closely comparable to PAN Studio's commission-driven model and has directly commissioned PAN Studio for the Kentucky Derby arcade piece at the Museum of Sex.
• Coney: London-based interactive theatre and games-making company that designs playful live experiences bridging online and in-person audiences. PAN Studio has directly collaborated with Coney on 'Better Than Life,' and the two share a model of commissioning-driven cross-reality work.
• B-Reel: Globally distributed creative studio building interactive digital experiences, games, and platforms for brands and cultural institutions. Comparable in blending games, mobile, and interactive storytelling under a commissioned-project business model.

Broad incumbents

• Punchdrunk: UK-leading immersive theatre company behind Sleep No More and large-scale site-specific productions. Operates in the same experiential-design category as PAN Studio but at significantly larger scale and budget, serving as the dominant incumbent in immersive performance.
• Hide&Seek (now Meow Wolf UK): London-based immersive-games and events studio that commissioned PAN Studio for 'The Secret Room' at La Gaîté Lyrique. Operates in the same playful-immersive space with broader US backing via Meow Wolf, making it a larger incumbent comparable in spirit.
• teamLab: International interdisciplinary art collective producing massive, technology-driven immersive installations. Comparable to PAN Studio in combining digital tech and public-facing experience design, but operates at vastly larger scale and global ticket-revenue model.

Others

• Watershed: Bristol-based cultural cinema and creative hub that runs the Playable City Award which seeded PAN Studio's Hello Lamp Post. Functions less as a competitor and more as a key commissioner / ecosystem enabler in PAN Studio's network.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/pan_studio
• Facebookfacebook.com/studioPAN
• Instagraminstagram.com/pan.studio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pan-studio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

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 PAN Studio