• General
  • May 6, 2020
  • 4 minutes read

Magic Leap In Talks For Urgent Funding: Report

Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz. Photograph by Kevin Moloney/Fortune Brainstorm Tech, under Creative Commons license According to a report from The…

Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz.

Photograph by Kevin Moloney/Fortune Brainstorm Tech, under Creative Commons license

According to a report from The Information, augmented reality company Magic Leap, which recently laid off more than 50% of its employees, has informed employees that it had signed a term sheet and is in ‘advanced’ negotiations to secure funding from “a major health care company”. The Information‘s report cites a memo sent to Magic Leap staff from its CEO, Rony Abovitz, a memo that noted the company is working on offering its augmented reality headsets for surgical use after a recent focus shift from mainstream consumers to the enterprise. According to The Information, the “major health care company” Magic Leap is holding talks with could be Zimmer Biomet, a publicly-traded medical devices company. Zimmer develops medical devices used by healthcare personnel to help treat bone and joint injuries.

According to The Information, Magic Leap, even after cutting more than half of its workforce, told its remaining employees that they risk losing their jobs if new funding doesn’t come through by June. This seems grim given Magic Leap has raised about $2.6 billion in total funding since its founding in 2011. Such a situation implies that Magic Leap has burned through most of that funding, with not much in return to show for it. The company has struggled to sell its first augmented reality headset, the Magic Leap One, which was released last year. The Magic Leap One is said to have sold only 6,000 units six months after its release, far out of tune with a 100,000 first-year sales projection by Magic Leap.

Not too long ago, Magic Leap was also reported to be exploring a sale. For what it seems, Magic Leap is in survival mode and is seeking out various avenues to stay afloat.




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