Peggy Johnson. Photo credit: Web Summit on Flickr, under Creative Commons license

After having secured a much-needed $350 million in new funding and its CEO announcing he would step down, augmented reality company Magic Leap has recruited Microsoft veteran Peggy Johnson to become its new chief executive. Johnson will become Magic Leap’s CEO effective on the 1st of August, 2020. She’s leaving her role as Executive Vice President of Business Development at Microsoft, where she has worked for six years. Before Microsoft, Johnson spent 24 years at Qualcomm, which happens to be an investor in Magic Leap. Currently, Johnson also serves as a board member of investment firm BlackRock.

Johnson heading to a company like Magic Leap doesn’t seem startling, given that at Microsoft, she oversaw startup investments through the company’s corporate venture fund, M12. Her time overseeing M12 presumably gives her better experience and familiarity with relatively young companies like Magic Leap. Magic Leap isn’t just a young company but one that has managed to raise mammoth amounts as one and, however, seems to be struggling as of late. Despite raising about $2.6 billion in earlier funding, Magic Leap seemingly burned through it and had to raise an extra $350 million to stay afloat. Sales of the company’s augmented reality headset have been lackluster and, in turn, caused it to shift its focus away from mainstream consumers towards the enterprise. It’s such that Magic Leap’s founder and long-running CEO Rony Abovitz seemingly had to step down as a condition for the company getting more backing from investors.

Right now, stakeholders in Magic Leap are apparently banking on the leadership of Peggy Johnson to help turnaround the company. “As Magic Leap drives towards commercializing spatial computing for enterprise, I can’t think of a better and more capable leader than Peggy Johnson to carry our mission forward,” Abovitz said in a statement.

“We have come a long way, from starting up in my garage to creating a new medium and redefining the future of computing. Now, under Peggy, who brings with her to Magic Leap three decades of experience identifying and executing strategic partnerships at the highest levels of business, Magic Leap can take another giant step forward in our journey,” Abovitz said.