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Augmented reality startup Magic Leap has raised a fresh $500 million from unspecified investors, valuing the company at roughly $2 billion.
The Florida-based business — which has raised $3.5 billion in total funding — counts Google, AT&T, Alibaba, and Warner Bros. as existing investors. In 2018, it announced a deal with the NBA to stream games to its AR headset in the coming years, and works with developers like “Angry Birds VR” maker Resolution Games on video games.
The $2 billion valuation represents a steep drop from the $6.7 billion valuation the company received in 2019, and a return to $2 billion valuation it reached after a $532 million raise in 2014, three years after it was founded.
Still, the recent raise is good news for a company that almost shut down in 2020.
- Magic Leap laid off about half of its workforce — 1,000 employees — last year.
- Co-founder and CEO Rony Abovitz was replaced by former Microsoft exec Peggy Johnson.
- The company’s $2,300 AR headset has been slow to sell.
A new headset, the Magic Leap 2, is set to arrive in 2022. The company said it will be the industry’s “smallest and lightest device” built for business use.
The AR/VR market is expected to reach close to $140 billion by the end of 2024.
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