Phase Space

What Phase Space does

Phase Space is a UK-based, privately held company (Phase Space Ltd, incorporated in England) that develops and licenses Phase Space VR, a multi-sensory immersive virtual reality experience designed to provide immediate stress and anxiety relief for young people aged 11 and above. The core product is a seven-minute VR session that delivers visual and audio content enabling students to relax, mentally reset, and build coping skills; a domain-specific Exam Stress VR course was co-developed with students at City St George's, University of London. The technology is evidence-led, anchored by what the company describes as the largest randomised controlled trial of VR for youth mental health to date (100+ medical students at St George's, plus 500+ co-design stakeholders and 400+ pilot participants between October 2023 and April 2024), and is GDPR/ICO compliant with NHS data sharing standards observed for research deployments.

The company monetises through enterprise licensing of VR hardware, software, and content to schools, universities, and NHS trusts, supplemented by an Early Access Programme that bundles training, staff workshops, onboarding materials, feedback and evaluation, technical support, regular service reviews, and flexible pricing on an annual billing cadence. Go-to-market is sales-led and consultative, with named deployments spanning the London Borough of Sutton (all 15 secondary schools), City University, King's College London, St George's University of London, Alleyn's School, North Staffs Combined Healthcare Trust, South West London and St George's NHS Trust, and North Wood Group Practice. Marketing is primarily PR-driven (The Guardian, Independent, Digital Trends coverage), event-led (Glastonbury Festival, Science Museum/PM's Advisory Council showcase), and partnership-led with academic and clinical institutions rather than performance marketing.

Phase Space is founder-led by Zillah Watson (CEO, former head of BBC VR and honorary professor at UCL), Katie Grayson (COO, ex-PlayStation/LEGO/BBC), and Owain Rich (CTO, ex-BBC/NBC), with clinical research partnership from St George's University of London. The company operates with 1-10 employees from a London headquarters, has not disclosed institutional equity funding beyond an Innovate UK grant (May 2023), and is positioning its evidence base as the principal differentiator in a digital wellbeing market where the company claims fewer than 5% of apps offer clinical evidence of effectiveness.

Name

Phase Space

Legal name

Phase Space Ltd

Website

https://www.phasespace.co.uk/

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Phase Space is a UK-based company that licenses a seven-minute immersive VR experience to schools, universities, and NHS trusts to deliver immediate stress and anxiety relief for young people aged 11+, supported by clinical trial evidence and co-designed content.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

VR Mental Wellness Software

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

VR-Based Skills Training Simulations (Soft Skills, Customer Service, Leadership) (EDAFAJAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Simulation-Based Learning & Virtual Labs (EDAGAEAG)

Keywords

• VR mental wellness
• Stress management technology
• Education wellbeing solutions
• Immersive therapy software
• Youth mental health

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Licence Options: The company offers licence options to educational institutions, with flexible pricing structures. The early access programme provides technology and knowledge to create supportive educational communities, with pricing that can be discussed upon contact.
2. Enterprise Licensing: Direct licensing of VR technology and content to schools, universities, and healthcare organisations. The company provides an early access programme including training, onboarding materials, and ongoing support as part of the licence package.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Phase Space provides a multi-sensory, immersive VR experience that delivers a seven-minute mental reset for young people aged 11+ experiencing anxiety, stress, ADHD, or emotional distress. The product, branded Phase Space VR, is licensed to secondary schools, universities, and healthcare organisations in the UK, accompanied by training, staff workshops, onboarding materials, and ongoing technical support as part of an early access programme. A specific Exam Stress VR Course, co-designed with students at City St George's University of London, addresses exam-related anxiety.

Product overview

Phase Space offers a single unified VR-based product called Phase Space VR, designed specifically for education and healthcare settings. The core product is an immersive, seven-minute VR experience that delivers immediate stress relief for young people. The programme can be accessed as a one-off experience or as a guided course (such as the Exam Stress course developed with students at City St George's, University of London). The product is evidence-based, having undergone rigorous clinical trials and pilot programmes, and is designed for easy adoption in schools, universities, and healthcare environments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Phase Space VR A multi-sensory, immersive VR experience that delivers a seven-minute session of immediate stress relief for young people aged 11 and over, helping them relax, reset their minds, and build coping skills and confidence. It is licensed to secondary schools, universities, and NHS organisations in the UK through an early access programme that includes training, staff workshops, onboarding materials, technical support, and flexible enterprise pricing.
• Exam Stress VR Course A dedicated VR course co-designed with students at City St George's, University of London that helps students manage exam-related stress and anxiety. Built on the same research-led methodology as the core Phase Space VR programme and evaluated as part of the largest RCT of VR for youth mental health conducted with 100+ medical students.

Quantifiable outcome

• 90% of students experienced immediate reduction in stress levels
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• South West London and St George's NHS TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 May 2026Phase Space partnered with South West London and St George's NHS Trust to pilot VR headsets in 15 secondary schools in the London Borough of Sutton. The NHS trust is exploring VR as a low-cost, complementary tool alongside traditional adolescent mental health services. This partnership provides clinical credibility and integrates healthcare expertise into the school-based deployment.
• City St George's, University of LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 April 2024Phase Space co-developed its Exam Stress VR course with students at City St George's, University of London. The partnership includes Wellbeing Weeks activities, clinical trial research, and ongoing deployment. Dr Trudi Edginton, Clinical Psychologist Reader in Cognitive Neuroscience, provides clinical validation. The partnership also extended to Glastonbury Festival research collaboration.
• King's College LondonmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2024King's College London participated in transformational 'Wellbeing Weeks' alongside City University and St George's. Over 150 students tried Phase Space across drop-in events. Student unions demonstrated readiness to support effective adoption, and the university has continued its partnership following the pilot.
• North Staffs Combined Healthcare TrustmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 February 2024North Staffs Combined Healthcare Trust innovated with Phase Space VR to provide wellbeing support to frontline NHS staff, extending the technology beyond educational settings into healthcare workforce support.
• St George's, University of LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2023Conducted the key RCT (November 2023) with 100 healthcare students comparing VR to smartphone-based content. Aileen O'Brien, Consultant Psychiatrist and Reader in Psychiatry and Education, serves as Clinical Research Partner. Trial results proved significant benefits including long-lasting effects not observed in control group.
• North Wood Group Practice, South LondonmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023A 2023 pilot at this South London GP practice led to an evolving collaborative partnership. 34 staff participated including doctors, clinical support workers and practice managers, with 90% showing significant stress reductions. Future plans include offering Phase Space at their dedicated youth mental health hub in partnership with a local secondary school.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Calm: Calm is a large incumbent in the broader mindfulness and wellbeing category, with subscriptions sold to consumers, employers and health plans. It competes for the same end-user attention and budget as Phase Space but via mobile/web rather than VR.
• Headspace: Headspace is a broad mindfulness, meditation and therapy incumbent with consumer, employer and NHS-facing distribution. It is an incumbent in the wellness space against which Phase Space is positioning its evidence-led VR modality.

Direct peers

• Virtually Better: Virtually Better develops VR exposure therapy and anxiety-management products used in clinical research and care. It targets similar anxiety and stress indications to Phase Space and has a comparable evidence-led, clinician-distributed model.
• Tripp: Tripp delivers VR mindfulness and wellness experiences for consumers and is expanding into employer benefits. Its short-form VR wellness format and enterprise distribution play in the same category as Phase Space's school-based VR wellbeing offering.
• Healium: Healium is a VR/AR mental wellness platform offering immersive stress and anxiety reduction experiences. It competes directly with Phase Space's seven-minute VR programme on consumer and enterprise wellness positioning.
• Psious: Psious provides a VR behavioural health platform for therapists, primarily exposure therapy for anxiety and phobias. Its B2B SaaS model into clinical settings is structurally similar to Phase Space's enterprise licensing into schools and NHS trusts.
• XRHealth: XRHealth operates a clinician-led VR therapy platform for mental and physical health conditions, distributed to clinics and patients. It is the closest US analogue to Phase Space in combining VR hardware, clinical protocols and evidence-led deployment.
• BehaVR: BehaVR builds VR-based digital therapeutics for mental health (anxiety, pain, stress), with multiple condition-specific modules. Its product architecture and payer/provider distribution model closely mirror Phase Space's evidence-led VR intervention approach.

Emerging players

• Kooth: Kooth is a UK-based digital mental health platform commissioned by the NHS for children and young people. It overlaps directly with Phase Space on the UK youth mental health segment and NHS procurement channel, though it is digital chat-based rather than VR.
• Limbic: Limbic is a UK AI-driven mental health platform supporting NHS IAPT self-referral and therapy matching. It shares Phase Space's UK geography and NHS go-to-market, but competes in an AI-first modality rather than VR.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 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 Phase Space