UPDATED 23:49 EDT / OCTOBER 22 2015

NEWS

Report: augmented reality startup Magic Leap close to raising $1b on a $4.5b valuation

Google, Inc. backed augmented reality startup Magic Leap, Inc. is set to raise a new round, at least according to one report Thursday.

According to an exclusive from the South Florida Business Journal the company is set to raise $1 billion Series C on a $4.5 billion valuation, more than double the valuation of its previous Series B round of $542 million in October 2014.

Of note while the source of the news is not a regular one, Magic Leap is headquartered in South Florida, hence the paper may have some credibility in having sources “familiar with the matter.”

The round, if it happens, will not only be the largest round for a South Florida based company, but one of the largest in tech history, with only Uber and Facebook previously raising rounds of $1 billion or more.

Founded in 2011, Magic Leap is attempting to deliver a product that combines inherent visual ability with mobile computing, delivering what the company describes as a “visual output equivalent to when you step outside into the world, but powered by the mobile tech you carry around.”

The core of the offering is the user of what the company calls the Dynamic Digitized Lightfield Signal that delivers the ability to generate images indistinguishable from real objects and then being able to place those images seamlessly into the real world; when the company released a demo video of its yet to be released product in March this year, SiliconANGLE’s Kyt Dodson described Magic Leap’s vision of augmented reality as “breathtaking.”

Although no firm release date has been given for Magic Leap’s product to come to market (at the moment it stands at 2016) the company has been busy providing support for third-party developers, including the launch of a dedicated software development kit (SDK) in June, one that also included support for both the Unreal and Unity game engines.

Magical mystery

Perhaps one aspect other than the sheer size of the potential round that stands out is the fact that it’s being raised by a company that has yet to bring a product to market.

Every time we cover Magic Leap the inevitable words are used: “mystery company” and although they now have a SDK and a demo video precious little more is known about it; eventually, or perhaps hopefully given the amount of money it’s raising it will come clean with an actual product and more details about how it works.

Magic Leap has raised $592 million over two rounds previously from investors including Obvious Ventures, Legendary Entertainment, Qualcomm Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Google.

Image credit: Magic Leap

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