Magic Leap has received $350 million in venture capital from unidentified current and new investors, Business Insider reported on Thursday.
“We are also working on closing possible additional investment in the coming weeks,” CEO and founder Rony Abovitz wrote in a note to staff announcing the funding.
A month ago, the Plantation-based company announced it would be focusing on the enterprise market, rather than the consumer market, for its headset and spatial computing technology. “As businesses around the world struggle to adapt to unprecedented change, we too have had to examine the way our company operates. The recent changes to the economic environment have decreased availability of capital and the appetite for longer term investments. While our leadership team, board, and investors still believe in the long-term potential of our IP, the near-term revenue opportunities are currently concentrated on the enterprise side,” Abovitz wrote then.
Along with that April 22 announcement, Abovitz indicated there would be layoffs, and media reports put the number as high as 800-1,000 job losses. But according to Abovitz’s staff note Thursday, the company is withdrawing the WARN notice, which is a 60-day notification for large-scale layoffs, from late April. That move apparently represents a reversal of the layoff plans.
Work is continuing on Magic Leap Two, which is is reportedly expected to feature a simplified design with a wider field of view, 5G capability and more appeal for the enterprise market. “We are making very good progress in our healthcare, enterprise, and defense deals,” Abovitz also wrote. “As these deals close, we will be able to announce them.”
It’s not clear if the new investment is debt or equity. Before this latest news, Magic Leap, founded in 2011 in Abovitz’s garage, raised $2.6 billion in venture funding, including from Google, Alibaba, AT&T, Warner Bros, Jnd the Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo.
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