Still, despite being in development for a while and receiving incredible amounts of investment, we still haven’t seen Magic Leap’s AR device, nor have we been given any indication of when it might be released other than "soon-ish" in July of this year.Īccording to The Information, Magic Leap may have “oversold” what its technology can actually do and former employees of the company have said that the technology described in early demonstrations won’t actually feature in the product that will be commercially released. However, earlier this year Wired's Kevin Kelly reported that he had in fact tried Magic Leap's prototype and described (opens in new tab) using it as being "as comfortable as slipping on a pair of sunglasses." Overall, Kelly describes a much more positive experience than the blurry images The Information reports. Magic Leap’s CEO Rony Abovitz reportedly showed a prototype compact “PEQ” device, but it wasn’t turned on and he didn’t elaborate on any details so there’s no evidence that it was actually a working prototype. Magic Leap, founded in 2011, is based in Dania Beach, Fla., with locations in Santa Cruz, Calif., Los Angeles, Mountain View, Calif., Seattle, Austin, the U.K., New Zealand and Israel.The Information states that the company is currently trying to move the Magic Leap experience from its current bulky headset form into a smaller, more wearable pair of glasses. LLC served as financial advisers to Magic Leap for the new funding. Magic Leap’s other existing investors include Legendary Entertainment, KKR, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Andreessen Horowitz and Obvious Ventures. “We believe Alibaba can both provide support to and learn from such a partner, and we look forward to working with the Magic Leap team.” “We invest in forward-thinking, innovative companies like Magic Leap that are developing leading products and technologies,” Joe Tsai, Alibaba’s exec vice chairman, said in a statement. The startup’s high-profile backers clearly believe Magic Leap is on to something very big. Magic Leap hasn’t announced when it expects to commercially launch its system, which is designed to layer virtual objects within a viewer’s field of vision. “This investment will accelerate bringing our new Mixed Reality Lightfield experience to everyone.” “Here at Magic Leap we are creating a new world where digital and physical realities seamlessly blend together to enable amazing new experiences,” Rony Abovitz, founder, president and CEO of Magic Leap, said in announcing the funding.
Morgan Investment Management, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, funds and accounts advised by T. New investors include Fidelity Management and Research Co., J.P. Google and Qualcomm Ventures contributed to the latest round.
The funding brings it to nearly $1.4 billion raised, after a $542 million round in 2014 led by Google. and other investors.Īccording to Magic Leap, the latest round values the company at $4.5 billion. Magic Leap, a secretive startup developing an augmented-reality system, announced $793.5 million in funding led by Alibaba Group with participation from Warner Bros.
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