Magic Leap has raised $502m to envision the future of mixed reality

18 Oct 2017

Image: Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock

Latest funding round will help Magic Leap to create a new mixed reality experience.

Mixed reality start-up Magic Leap has raised $502m in a Series D round led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek, giving it a post-money valuation of $5bn.

The round also had participation from EDBI, Grupo Globo, Janus Henderson, Alibaba Group, Fidelity Management and others.

This brings the figure raised by Magic Leap to $1.9bn, which it will use to pursue its ambition to create a new mixed reality experience that involves the design of a new kind of headset using light-field technology.

“We’re excited to welcome Temasek and the other new investors in this round to the Magic Leap family,” said Rony Abovitz, founder, president and CEO of Magic Leap.

“We also greatly appreciate the strong support and partnership from our existing shareholders. Allen & Company LLC served as exclusive financial adviser to Magic Leap in connection with the transaction.”

Hocus pocus or a big bet on tomorrow?

The mysterious tech company’s head-mounted display is promising to project light fields into the user’s eye that will then result in superimposing 3D imagery over real-world objects.

Founded in 2010, Magic Leap counts Google and Alibaba Group as early investors, not to mention Qualcomm, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins.

However, it has yet to unveil its first product.

Last year, Magic Leap announced a partnership with Disney’s Lucasfilm and its ILMxLAB R&D unit. In February of this year, Magic Leap acquired the 3D division of Swiss computer vision Dacuda.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

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