ScanLAB Projects
ScanLAB Projects is a London-based, artist-led creative studio founded in 2010 that uses large-scale 3D scanning, LiDAR, and pointcloud visualization to produce immersive installations, VR documentaries, and theatrical works for cultural institutions, broadcasters, and entertainment clients worldwide.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What ScanLAB Projects does
ScanLAB Projects is a London-based, artist-led creative studio founded in 2010 by Matthew Shaw and William Trossell that specializes in large-scale 3D scanning, LiDAR, and photogrammetry to produce immersive installations, VR documentaries, theatrical productions, and commissioned artworks. The studio's underlying technology stack combines terrestrial laser scanning, photogrammetric time-lapse capture, pointcloud processing and visualization, multichannel video, spatial audio, and realtime engines for VR/XR delivery. Its signature body of work is the FRAMERATE series — multi-year, daily-scan documentation of landscapes (UK, Sonoran Desert, Taiwan, Yosemite, Arctic) that has produced hundreds of terabytes of unique longitudinal data and been published in Nature journal. The studio operates as a project-based professional services business, generating revenue through commissions from cultural institutions (Venice Biennale, Tribeca, Royal Academy, Desert Botanical Garden, Berliner Ensemble, Donmar Warehouse), documentary partnerships with tier-1 broadcasters (BBC, National Geographic, The Guardian, NYT Magazine), commercial entertainment work (Justin Timberlake's Man of the Woods tour, XL Recordings), touring exhibition licensing, and limited artwork edition sales. Co-marketing and distribution rely heavily on earned media, festival premieres, and direct institutional outreach rather than paid channels.
The studio is privately held, founder-owned, and bootstrapped — no external funding rounds, parent company, or institutional investors are disclosed in available materials. Headcount is approximately 15-20, comprising specialists across architecture, engineering, software development, VFX, and production. Recent strategic emphasis has shifted toward internationalizing the FRAMERATE franchise (Taiwan chapter 2023, US chapter 2024-2026), expanding into theatrical co-productions with German opera houses (FELIX'S ROOM, 2023), and professionalizing the leadership team with strategic hires including a former Apple advisor. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed; contracts are typically multi-year for touring exhibitions and project-defined for one-off commissions.
ScanLAB Projects firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ScanLAB Projects
- Legal name
- ScanLAB Projects
- Website
- https://scanlabprojects.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- ScanLAB Projects is a London-based, artist-led creative studio founded in 2010 that uses large-scale 3D scanning, LiDAR, and pointcloud visualization to produce immersive installations, VR documentaries, and theatrical works for cultural institutions, broadcasters, and entertainment clients worldwide.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ScanLAB Projects industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Immersive Digital Art and 3D Scanning Services
- NAICS
- Photographic Services (54192), Commercial Photography (541922)
- SIC
- Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Building Information Modeling (BIM) & Digital Design Services (BPAHAKAK)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Stereo 3D VFX & Conversion (Stereoscopy, Depth, Reprojection) (MPAHABAJ)
Keywords
Where ScanLAB Projects is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
ScanLAB Projects business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Cultural Institution Commissions: ScanLAB receives commissions from museums, galleries, and cultural institutions for site-specific installations and exhibitions. Major commissions include Desert Botanical Garden (Desert Pulse), EPFL (Replica | Real | Replica), and venues hosting their touring exhibitions.
- Documentary and Film Production: Partnerships with broadcasters and production companies for documentary content. Projects include Lost Treasures of the Maya (National Geographic), Dream Life of Driverless Cars (New York Times Magazine), and Limbo (The Guardian).
- Live Performance and Theatre Production: Collaborative productions with theatres including Felix's Room (Berliner Ensemble, Komische Oper Berlin), Adult Children (Donmar Warehouse), and COLLAPSE (Southbank Centre).
- Commercial Entertainment Projects: High-profile commercial work such as Man of the Woods tour visuals for Justin Timberlake and music video production for artists like ibeyi (XL Recordings).
- Touring Exhibition Licensing: Multiple artworks are available to tour, with venues paying for exhibition rights. Contact person Anetta Jones manages touring enquiries for FRAMERATE series.
- Editions and Art Sales: Sale of artwork editions through their online shop (shop.scanlabprojects.co.uk).
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Exhibition/Touring Rights - Custom Quote |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels5 records
ScanLAB Projects product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ScanLAB Projects creates large-scale immersive art installations, VR documentaries, and digital replicas using proprietary 3D scanning technology (LiDAR, photogrammetry, pointcloud visualization). The studio produces commissioned artworks for cultural institutions, broadcasters, theatres, and commercial clients, with the FRAMERATE series (daily time-lapse 3D scanning of landscapes) as its flagship body of work. They also license touring exhibition rights and sell limited art editions through their online shop.
Product overview
ScanLAB Projects is a pioneering creative studio founded in 2010 that explores the world through precise, beautiful digital replicas using 3D scanning, LiDAR, and pointcloud technologies. The studio's portfolio consists primarily of large-scale art installations and immersive experiences rather than a traditional software product. The core offering centers on the FRAMERATE series (Pulse of the Earth, Desert Pulse, Rhythms Around Us, Echoes from Taiwan) - time-lapse 3D scanning projects that document environmental and societal changes. Additional major works include theatrical VR experiences (Limbo, Adult Children, FELIX'S ROOM), documentary projects (Lost Treasures of the Maya, Displaced Witness), museum digitization (A Museum Made Digital), and art installations (Frozen Relic, Phantom, Post-lenticular Landscapes). The studio's distinctive pointcloud aesthetic provides new ways to see, understand, and feel beyond traditional cameras, serving as both art and scientific archive.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- FRAMERATE: Desert Pulse Large-scale immersive art installation featuring four digital installations nested in the Desert Botanical Garden, a multi-channel exhibition in a contemporary gallery space, and a behind-the-scenes gallery. Uses 365 days of LiDAR data and 93 days of timelapse photogrammetric data to observe landscape moments and cactus growth cycles across 34+ sites in the Sonoran Desert.
- FRAMERATE: Rhythms Around Us Second artwork in the FRAMERATE series featuring pointcloud animation, multichannel video, and spatial audio. Created from daily 3D scans of landscapes and cityscapes, observing change across geological, seasonal, and tidal time scales. Selected for Tribeca Immersive 2024.
- FRAMERATE: Echoes from Taiwan First international chapter of the FRAMERATE series featuring Taiwanese landscapes. Focuses on bustling activity in Taipei and Kaohsiung alongside spiritual landscapes. Used high frequency scanning technique with scanning every few minutes over 12 hours at each location.
- FRAMERATE: Pulse of the Earth First artwork in the FRAMERATE series, a multichannel installation created from thousands of daily 3D time-lapse scans of British landscapes. Reveals alterations caused by human industry and natural rhythms through hypnotic pointcloud imagery and spatial audio. Scientific research published in Nature journal.
- FELIX'S ROOM
Quantifiable outcome
- FRAMERATE data published in Nature journal - ground-breaking scientific research
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use ScanLAB Projects
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
ScanLAB Projects technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability5 records
Feature5 records
ScanLAB Projects partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
25 partnerships are on record, tiered core and key.
- Desert Botanical GardencoreCommissioned FRAMERATE: Desert Pulse - the most ambitious project to date featuring 365 days of LiDAR scanning across 34+ sites in the Sonoran Desert. The exhibition opened October 11, 2025 and runs through May 2026. Desert Botanical Garden provided access to their world-renowned collection and served as the primary exhibition venue.
- Berliner EnsemblecoreCo-production partner for Felix's Room - a digital hybrid theatre production reconstructing the life of Felix and Erna Ganz after their imprisonment in a 'Judenhaus' in 1942. Premiered at Berliner Ensemble, Berlin in June 2023.
- Komische Oper BerlincoreCo-production partner for Felix's Room alongside Berliner Ensemble. Developed new digital narrative forms at the intersection of theatre, music, and technical innovation.
- TAICCA (Taiwan Creative Content Agency)coreCommissioned FRAMERATE: Echoes from Taiwan - ScanLAB's first international chapter of the FRAMERATE series. Supported with generous funding that enabled the Taiwan production.
- Stone Soup ProductionscoreLocal Taiwanese production partner for Echoes from Taiwan. Trained local team members on 3D LiDAR scanning equipment. Acted as local producers, translators, 3D Scanning Technical Artists and fixers.
- StoryFutureskeyPartnership for Buried in the Rock VR documentary. StoryFutures is the National Centre for Immersive Storytelling in Great Britain.
- ComplicitékeyConsultant producer and creative partner for Felix's Room production, bringing international theatre expertise.
- StoryFutureskeySupported Felix's Room production. StoryFutures is the National Centre for Immersive Storytelling, providing expertise in digital narrative forms.
- PHI Center (Montreal)keyExhibition venue for FRAMERATE: Pulse of the Earth in Montreal, Canada (March-June 2024).
- Donmar WarehousecoreCo-production partner for Adult Children - a virtual theatre experience set in a scanned replica of the Donmar Warehouse Theatre, exploring social distance during COVID.
- Trial and Error StudiokeyAssociate producer for Adult Children virtual theatre experience.
- Sir John Soane's MuseumcoreOngoing collaboration since 2013 including A Museum Made Digital (explore.soane.org), Replica | Real | Replica, and other conservation projects.
- Factum FoundationkeyPartner for Replica | Real | Replica. Provided data used to create near-perfect replica of King Seti I's Tomb (KV17).
- EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)coreCommissioned Replica | Real | Replica for EPFL Pavilions exhibition 'Deep Fakes: Art and its Double' in 2021.
- English Touring TheatrekeyAssociate production partner for Adult Children virtual theatre experience.
- Lundahl & SeitlkeyCollaboration with artist duo for Eternal Return - a choreographed, mixed reality exhibition exploring the future of memory in three chapters.
- Wild Blue MediacoreDocumentary production partner for Lost Treasures of the Maya series for National Geographic.
- Pakanum LIDAR InitiativecoreCollaboration on Lost Treasures of the Maya documentary. Employed laser scanning and LIDAR analysis in the jungle wilderness of Xmakabatun in northern Guatemala to reveal hidden Maya cities.
- Qualcomm Institute (UCSD)corePartnered with the Qualcomm Institute of San Diego for Lost Treasures of the Maya project, utilizing their LIDAR analysis capabilities for archaeological discovery.
- The GuardiancorePartnership for Limbo VR documentary - created in collaboration with Guardian journalists in response to interviews with asylum seekers. Published and distributed by The Guardian.
- XL RecordingskeyCommissioned music video for ibeyi single OYA and world tour visuals (2014-2016).
- Cambridge University (DAMTP)coreExpedition partnership for Frozen Relic: Arctic Works. Sea ice scientists from DAMTP at Cambridge University accompanied the expedition aboard the Greenpeace icebreaker Arctic Sunrise to the Fram Strait, North West of Svalbard.
- GreenpeacekeyPartnership aboard the Arctic Sunrise icebreaker for Arctic expedition to collect 3D forensic data of 26 ice floes for Frozen Relic: Arctic Works.
- Forensic ArchitecturekeyCollaboration on Living Death Camps project combining terrestrial laser scanning with ground penetrating radar to explore concentration camp sites in former Yugoslavia.
- Daniel SteegmannkeyCollaborator on Phantom - a pioneering 6DOF VR experience for Oculus DK2 in the Mata Atlantica Rainforest in Brazil.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
ScanLAB Projects competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- CyArk: CyArk creates high-resolution 3D digital archives of cultural heritage sites and shares ScanLAB's core competency of using LiDAR and photogrammetry to document iconic architecture and landscapes for research and public engagement.
- Marshmallow Laser Feast: London-based immersive art studio producing VR and large-scale installations with similar creative technology, premium cultural clients, and festival-circuit positioning to ScanLAB.
- Refik Anadol Studio: Data-driven art studio producing large-scale installations from massive datasets; shares ScanLAB's positioning at the intersection of cutting-edge technology, aesthetics, and museum commissions.
- United Visual Artists: London-based art and design practice creating immersive light, sound, and motion installations for cultural institutions, brands, and music tours — overlapping technology stack and client base with ScanLAB.
- Factum Foundation: Organization using high-resolution 3D scanning to digitize and replicate cultural heritage artifacts; collaborated with ScanLAB on Replica | Real | Replica and operates in the same heritage-scanning niche.
Broad incumbents
- TeamLab: Japan-based collective producing large-scale immersive digital installations for museums and exhibitions globally; competes with ScanLAB for high-budget cultural-venue commissions and touring exhibitions.
- Moment Factory: Montreal-based multimedia studio creating immersive installations, projection mappings, and experiential environments for museums, public spaces, and music artists — a broader, larger-scale analogue to ScanLAB's exhibition work.
- Matterport: Provider of 3D capture platforms and digital twin technology used for buildings and spaces; serves a much broader commercial real estate market but shares the underlying LiDAR/photogrammetry technology stack.
Emerging players
- Forensic Architecture: Research agency using 3D scanning, spatial analysis, and visualization for human-rights and investigative work; previously partnered with ScanLAB and shares the same scanning-based investigative method.
Others
- FARO Technologies: Provider of 3D scanning hardware and software used across AEC, forensics, and heritage; supplies the kind of LiDAR capture tools ScanLAB relies on rather than competing directly on creative output.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
ScanLAB Projects social profiles
Digital presenceScanLAB Projects financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ScanLAB Projects leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
ScanLAB Projects funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ScanLAB Projects 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 ScanLAB Projects
What does ScanLAB Projects do?
ScanLAB Projects creates large-scale immersive art installations, VR documentaries, and digital replicas using proprietary 3D scanning technology (LiDAR, photogrammetry, pointcloud visualization). The studio produces commissioned artworks for cultural institutions, broadcasters, theatres, and commercial clients, with the FRAMERATE series (daily time-lapse 3D scanning of landscapes) as its flagship body of work. They also license touring exhibition rights and sell limited art editions through their online shop.
Is ScanLAB Projects a public or private company?
ScanLAB Projects is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was ScanLAB Projects founded?
ScanLAB Projects was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is ScanLAB Projects based?
ScanLAB Projects is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does ScanLAB Projects make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Cultural Institution Commissions are the primary driver. The others are documentary and Film Production, live Performance and Theatre Production, commercial Entertainment Projects, touring Exhibition Licensing and editions and Art Sales.
Who are ScanLAB Projects's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are CyArk, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Refik Anadol Studio, United Visual Artists and Factum Foundation. Broad incumbents are TeamLab, Moment Factory and Matterport. Forensic Architecture is listed as an emerging player. FARO Technologies is listed as an others.
Does ScanLAB Projects have an API?
No public API is recorded for ScanLAB Projects.
What industry is ScanLAB Projects in?
ScanLAB Projects's product category is Immersive Digital Art and 3D Scanning Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAKAK, Building Information Modeling (BIM) & Digital Design Services, with a secondary code of MPAHABAJ, Stereo 3D VFX & Conversion (Stereoscopy, Depth, Reprojection). Its NAICS code is 54192 and its SIC code is 7330.