More investment news has surfaced for the secretive mixed-reality company Magic Leap Inc. This week the startup has confirmed that its latest Series C funding round has raised $794 million USD, bringing it to a total of $1.4 Billion USD in investments and valuing Dania Beach, Florida, company at $4.5 billion USD.
This round of funding was led by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba reports the Wall Street Journal. This will also give the company a position on Magic Leap’s board of directors, although reports differ on who this will be. Alphabet Inc. (Google), and Qualcomm Inc., have reinvested, while J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Time Warner Inc. unit Warner Bros and others are now added to that list.
The amount of funding Magic Leap has raised will be remarkable for many due to the company having not released any real details for its product, only a couple of teaser demos are currently available. But those that that have seen first-hand demos do seem to jump on board quickly. Weta Workshops, a New Zealand-based design studio has come on board to build games, while Neal Stephenson a sci-fi writer is Magic Leaps chief futurist.
CEO Rony Abovitz also released a blog on Tuesday to state Magic Leap was ‘gearing up’ for its first product. “We are setting up supply chain operations, manufacturing”, wrote Abovitz. He also named the technology it has been developing, calling it ‘Mixed Reality Lightfield’. As the CEO describes it: “It comes to life by following the rules of the eye and the brain, by being gentle, and by working with us, not against us. By following as closely as possible the rules of nature and biology.”
When Magic Leap is likely to release concrete information is unknown but VRFocus will continue to report an any further announcements.
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