AMAZE (formerly AmazeVR) is a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

concert production company founded in July 2015 by former executives and founders of

Kakao Kakao Corporation () is a South Korean internet conglomerate headquartered in Jeju City. It was formed through the merger of Daum Communications and the original Kakao Inc. in 2010. The company was renamed Daum Kakao in 2014. In 2015, it was ...

. Its headquarters is located in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, with a second office in

Seoul, South Korea Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. AMAZE develops VR concert experiences for global pop and

K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

artists, distributed via VR headset apps and theatrical installations.

History

Founded in Silicon Valley in 2015, AMAZE secured $7 million in Series A funding between December 2018 and April 2019 from investors including LG Technology Ventures, CJ Timewise Investment, and Smilegate Investment. This was followed by $2.5 million in Series A2 funding in December 2019 and $9.5 million in bridge funding in April 2021. In June 2021, AMAZE partnered with

Megan Thee Stallion Megan Jovon Ruth Pete (born February 15, 1995), known professionally as Megan Thee Stallion, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Megan initially gained recognition when videos of her freestyling began to circulate widely on social me ...

as its first featured artist, resulting in the U.S. theatrical debut of her VR concert, ''Enter the Hottieverse,'' in March 2022. A stand-alone app version for the Meta Quest was released in November 2022. In July 2022, AMAZE formed a joint venture, Studio A, with

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

, expanding into K-pop VR concert production. In September 2022, the company raised $17 million in Series B funding from investors including GS and Mirae Asset. In July 2023, AMAZE launched the ''AmazeVR Concerts'' App on Meta Quest, followed by its release as a Day 1 app on Apple Vision Pro in February 2024. From July 2024 to June 2025, AMAZE presented the ''HYPERFOCUS: TOMORROW X TOGETHER VR CONCERT'' with

Tomorrow X Together Tomorrow X Together (; Tomorrow by Together, stylized in all caps), commonly abbreviated as TXT, is a South Korean boy group formed by Big Hit Entertainment. The group consists of five members: Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and HueningK ...

globally in territories including South Korea, the United States, Japan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Singapore, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, and Mexico.

Products and services

AMAZE Concerts App

The AMAZE Concerts app offers cinematic VR concert experiences for

Meta Quest The Meta Quest, initially the Oculus Quest until August 2022, is a line of virtual reality headsets with augmented reality capabilities developed by Reality Labs, a division of Meta. The first-generation Oculus Quest was developed by Oculus (the ...

and

Apple Vision Pro The Apple Vision Pro is a mixed reality, mixed-reality headset developed by Apple Inc., Apple. It was announced on June 5, 2023, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) and was released first in the US, then in global territories thr ...

Theatrical VR concerts

The company also produces in-theater VR concerts, offering shared immersive experiences combining 3D visuals and audio.

Major releases

2022 *

, ''Enter the Hottieverse'' — U.S. Theater Tour (Mar–Sept); Meta Quest app (Nov) 2023 *

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish singer-songwriter and dancer. She first rose to prominence in 2008 after winning the Talang 2008, second season of ''Talang (Swedish TV show), Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got T ...

— Meta Quest (Jul) * UPSAHL — Meta Quest (Jul) *

T-Pain Faheem Rashad Najm (born September 30, 1984), known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer and rapper. He is known for popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction, often used with extreme parameter settings to create electro ...

— Meta Quest (Nov) *

aespa Aespa ( ; , stylized in Letter case#All lowercase, all lowercase or as æspa) is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group consists of four members: Karina (South Korean singer), Karina, Giselle (singer), Giselle, Winter ...

— Theatrical release, Seoul (Oct) 2024 * Zara Larsson, UPSAHL, T-Pain — Apple Vision Pro (Feb) *

Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, lead gui ...

— Meta Quest & Apple Vision Pro (Feb) * aespa — Theatrical release in Tokyo & Osaka (Feb–Apr) * KAI — Theatrical release in Seoul, Tokyo & Osaka (Feb–May) * ''HYPERFOCUS:

VR CONCERT'' — Global Theater Tour (Jul 2024–Jun 2025) 2025 * ''HYPERFOCUS: TOMORROW X TOGETHER VR CONCERT'' — Meta Quest & Apple Vision Pro (Jun) * ''

Cha Eun-woo Lee Dong-min (; born March 30, 1997), known professionally as Cha Eun-woo (), is a South Korean singer and actor. He is a member of the South Korean boy band Astro (South Korean band), Astro, and debuted as a solo artist with the extended play ...

VR CONCERT : MEMORIES'' - Global Theater Tour (Jun)

Awards and recognition

In 2023 and 2024, AMAZE was included in

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...

's "Most Innovative Companies" list. The company was also a

Webby Awards The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...

honoree for Best VR Headset Experience and received a Vega Digital Award for VR production.

References

{{Reflist Virtual reality companies Technology companies of the United States Entertainment companies of the United States