- General
- November 15, 2019
- 5 minutes read
Magic Leap Said To Be Raising More Funding
Magic Leap founder and CEO Rony Abovitz Photograph by Kevin Moloney/Fortune Brainstorm Tech Magic Leap, a Florida-based augmented reality startup…
Magic Leap founder and CEO Rony Abovitz
Photograph by Kevin Moloney/Fortune Brainstorm Tech
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Magic Leap, a Florida-based augmented reality startup that’s already garnered some $2.6 billion in funding, is raising even more funding according to a report from Variety. A spokesperson for the company further confirmed Variety’s report, stating that Magic Leap “is in the midst of a significant financing round”. “We have already closed a major portion of this round, some as equity and some as convertible debt that will become equity when the round is complete. The participants in this round include existing investors, new investors, and strategic partners.” The spokesperson said.
Initial signs of Magic Leap seeking more funding surfaced in August, when the company assigned all of its patents to JPMorgan Chase as collateral. Reports of the transfer recently surfaced on Hacker News, a popular technology-focused social news website/forum, where several commenters evinced that such an arrangement could be an indication of financial struggles. However, such an arrangement isn’t something that’s completely out of the ordinary, as intellectual property is often used as collateral to secure investments. However, Magic Leap seeking more funding after having raised north of $2 billion already hints of an out-of-the-norm cash burn rate. Even after raising hundreds of millions, Magic Leap likely operated without revenues for a substantial time, ending when it finally launched an AR headset August last year. However, although we have no official numbers, it’s plausible that revenue from headset sales is not able to sustain Magic Leap currently.
After releasing its first headset last year, to mixed reviews, Magic Leap became somewhat quiet, with no major news coming from the company this year. However, a spokesperson speaking to Variety insisted the company is still growing and is preparing to launch new products. “Magic Leap has been expanding internationally and now has distribution in the U.S. and Asia with additional regions to follow soon,” the spokesperson said. “In addition to growing market share, we are currently productizing our 2nd generation device and the Magicverse, and are growing our content and developer ecosystems.”
On the topic of the new funding, there’s no word yet on which investors other than JPMorgan Chase are going to participate in the new round. However, it’s worth noting that Magic Leap has a host of big-name investors, such as Google, AT&T, Alibaba, Warner Bros, Legendary Entertainment, Qualcomm, Vulcan, Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, Obvious Ventures, KKR, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price Associates. Some of these investors may be likely participants in the new funding, as already hinted by Magic Leap’s spokesperson.