The secretive augmented and virtual reality company Magic Leap has just raised an astonishing round of new funding, in what could prove to be a transformative deal for the future of the technology.
Magic Leap said it had raised $793.5 million in a new round of funding led by Chinese retail giant Alibaba Group. Alibaba executive vice chairman Joe Tsai will take a seat on the board of the company, along with Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Further investment was made by existing partners at Google and Qualcomm, with new funding from Warner Bros. and various financial companies including Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
The funding gives Magic Leap a value of close to $3.7 billion, an astounding number given it has so far released no technology or products. By comparison Oculus Rift, makers of virtual reality headsets, was purchased by Facebook for around $2 billion in 2014.
Magic Leap has so far kept its tech under wraps, but describes it as a "living river of light sculpture". More prosaically, the product is expected to comprise a form of augmented reality similar to Microsoft's upcoming HoloLens project. The company's promotional materials pitch the tech as a way to bring fantasies to life, from whales appearing in mid-air over a beach to video games taking place amongst objects from everyday life.
The company has made intriguing moves outside of fundraising, hiring sci-fi visionary Neal Stephenson as its 'chief futurist' and teaming up with New Zealand studio Weta Workshops for a series of games.
Abovitz said in a Reddit AMA in February 2015 that he's not a fan of the 3D stereoscopic virtual reality headsets already on the market -- giving a clue as to how his tech will be different:
"Our vision for AR and VR is a true replication of visual reality. The ONLY safe way forward is to make a digital light field that is naturally tuned into your brain and physiology. And it's amazing how when you give the mind and body what they want, how much it gives back."
Magic Leap -- which is based in Florida but already has offices in Santa Cruz, LA, Mountain View, Seattle, Austin, the UK, New Zealand and Israel -- describes its product as the "next computing platform that will enable you to seamlessly combine and experience your digital and physical lives".
In a new blog post, titled 'Atoms Not Included', Abovitz expanded on the vision for Magic Leap and the effect it wants to create in its users' minds -- and its first product. "Art is everywhere, and can be in everything. It is where the feeling of the person (or people) creating the thing for you, is infused into their creation with their spirit, their warmth, and with a depth of feeling and intensity that somehow translates back to you," he wrote. "Great actors and musicians communicate this feeling -- it is why we love them. Painters and sculptors can imbibe their works with this spirit and emotion. You can feel this essence in the best novels and film, and you can enjoy it in the best foods, made thoughtfully and with great care." "Here at Magic Leap we are gearing up for our First. Let’s not call it a product, although it is a product on many levels; but on some levels it needs to be more. We are setting up supply chain operations, manufacturing - many whirligigs and test machines and gizmos abound these days." "Engineers move about our spaces with a sense of urgency. Intense debates about every form of science and art you can imagine float about. Plans have been made. Program and production managers track progress. Coders are coding. Operational and financial systems are being upgraded so that we can scale and deliver at the required volumes. Our First thing will not be everything. But it will be a big step in a whole new direction." "In my mind what we are really doing will transcend what can be contained in a physical product, the thing with atoms and such. What we will bring to you, the part you will really love and find special, is the part without atoms."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
