【1989 Archives】

We know very little of Magic Leap. And yet989 Archives it continues to be on a path toward greatness.

The augmented reality company just closed on $502 million in funding, propelling their total venture funding to $1.9 billion. While that's far less than Uber, Slack, and other tech unicorns, Magic Leap is special because it has no product to show for it.

Well, at least not to the general public. Beyoncé has demoed it as well as investors.

Bey was reportedly bored, and other reports have surfaced that Magic Leap's AR technology is perhaps over-hyped. One of the product demos was actually overblown by a visual effects studio, The Informationreported last year. A leaked prototype showed a janky backpack that looked far from ready for market, Business Insiderrevealed earlier this year.

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And yet, Magic Leap now has more money to its name. Temasek, Janus Henderson Investors, and Grupo Globo contributed to this Series D round. Previous investors who contributed again include Alibaba, Fidelity, Alphabet's Google Ventures, JP Morgan, and T. Rowe Price.

“We’re excited to welcome Temasek and the other new investors in this round to the Magic Leap family. We also greatly appreciate the strong support and partnership from our existing shareholders,” said Rony Abovitz, founder, president, and CEO of Magic Leap, said in a statement.

While Magic Leap has remained tight-lipped, other tech giants have shown off their virtual reality and augmented reality experiences. Microsoft has HoloLens for AR. Facebook is building Oculus Rift and other headsets for VR. Apple is working on its own pair of AR glasses, although they may not be released any time soon.

And then, there's Magic Leap. Founded in 2010, the company is headquartered in Plantation, Florida. It has made some splashy reveals with stories in Wiredand Forbes. Last year, it announced a partnership with Lucasfilm to create "Star Wars" AR experiences.

But none of those are for a public display, yet.

One of the few times Magic Leap has gotten the spotlight was during a sex discrimination lawsuit from a former employee. Tannen Campbell, former head of strategic marketing and brand identity, sued for sex discrimination, The Guardianreported. The suit has since been settled and dismissed.

Magic Leap's mission statement is "to harmonize people and technology, amplifying the best parts of you, to create a better, more unified world." We're ready to see it.

ryd

Expert writer and contributor. Passionate about sharing knowledge and insights on various topics.