Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Mysterious Magic Leap Wraps Up Its Mega-Funding Round

It gets at least $827 million more to build a real-life version of “The Matrix” mated with “Harry Potter.”

Magic Leap

Magic Leap, the company that’s working on an “augmented reality” device that promises to blow your mind, has finished up a giant funding round.

The Florida-based company, which had previously raised more than $500 million from Google and other investors, has added on a new round of at least $827 million, though industry sources believe the number may be even higher than that.

The new money will give Magic Leap a value of at least $3.7 billion. As we reported last year, the round will include money from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which hadn’t backed the company before, but is now on the hunt for big investing opportunities.

Sources say Magic Leap intends to announce the new round in the next few days. The company declined to comment.

Magic Leap’s technology is supposed to end up in a headset that will beam computer-generated images into your eyes, so that you end up seeing the real world alongside a virtual one. CEO Rony Abovitz has described the effect as “part-Matrix, part-Harry Potter.” You can see a proof of concept video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw0-JRa9n94

Magic Leap has let a handful of non-employees try out the tech, and everyone who sees it uses superlatives to describe it. The open question is whether Abovitz and his employees can turn their technology into a consumer product, and whether they’ll be able to get there before deep-pocketed rivals with lots of experience making and selling consumer tech, who are also chasing after versions of virtual and augmented reality.

Facebook, for instance, is supposed to start shipping a $600 version of its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset next month, and Microsoft got a lot of attention when it demoed its HoloLens augmented reality gear last year. And now Apple looks ready to join the fray: Tim Cook says virtual reality is “really cool“, and has reportedly assigned a team to create his own devices.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Technology
The case for AI realismThe case for AI realism
Technology

AI isn’t going to be the end of the world — no matter what this documentary sometimes argues.

By Shayna Korol
Politics
OpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agendaOpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agenda
Politics

The AI company released a set of highly progressive policy ideas. There’s just one small problem.

By Eric Levitz
Future Perfect
Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.
Future Perfect

Protecting astronauts in space — and maybe even Mars — will help transform health on Earth.

By Shayna Korol
Podcasts
The importance of space toilets, explainedThe importance of space toilets, explained
Podcast
Podcasts

Houston, we have a plumbing problem.

By Peter Balonon-Rosen and Sean Rameswaram
Technology
What happened when they installed ChatGPT on a nuclear supercomputerWhat happened when they installed ChatGPT on a nuclear supercomputer
Technology

How they’re using AI at the lab that created the atom bomb.

By Joshua Keating
Future Perfect
Humanity’s return to the moon is a deeply religious missionHumanity’s return to the moon is a deeply religious mission
Future Perfect

Space barons like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk don’t seem religious. But their quest to colonize outer space is.

By Sigal Samuel