Los Angeles-based virtual reality concert platform AmazeVR has secured $15m (£11m) in funding.

The company said it will launch its first commercial VR concert early this year by staging shows by rapper Megan Thee Stallion (pictured) at AMC Entertainment cinemas across the US.

According to TechCrunch, the deal takes AmazeVR to nearly $31m (£23m) in capital raised, with the startup now plotting a Series B raise in early 2022.

Users of the platform can join concerts as avatars, come face-to-face with artists, and interact with other users. AmazeVR said it plans to release new VR concerts weekly by 2024 to both venues and viewers at home.

The company was founded in 2015 by former executives of South Korean messaging app Kakao, but it only fully pivoted into VR concerts in late 2019. It also has an office in Seoul.

The funding was co-led by Partners Investment and Murex Partners and was oversubscribed within three weeks, according to AmazeVR.

AmazeVR co-CEO Ernest Lee said, “Our goal is for the technology to be so good that it becomes invisible so that the fan’s memory is not that of a great VR experience, but it’s that they actually came face to face with their favourite artists in fantastical immersive environments, blurring the lines of reality.”

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