Magic Leap raised $500 million funding. The company is now preparing to launch the Magic Leap 2 AR headset next year. The company stated that the headset would be available in general next year and that some customers have already begun to use it as part of an early-access program.
Peggy Johnson, CEO of Magic Leap, stated in a statement that the new funding will allow Magic Leap to have greater financial flexibility as well as the resources necessary to continue its growth trajectory.
@peggyj has just announced #MagicLeap2 at @CNBC, the industry's smallest and lightest device. It is designed for enterprise and has a larger FOV and dimming, a first-to market innovation that allows it to be used in brightly lit environments. https://t.co/jSPUGd4P9N pic.twitter.com/LVpUX6YfcW Magic Leap (@magicleap) October 11, 2021
Magic Leap is, in fact, the company that started its existence as an AR startup. It received nearly $3 billion to finance its consumer-friendly AR headset. The headset's name was changed from Magic Leap 1 into The Magic Leap One Creator Edition to appeal to professional customers. In 2020, the company laid off approximately 1,000 employees and was said to be abandoning its consumer business. Johnson was appointed as the CEO and cofounder of the company.
Johnson announced in April that limited quantities of Magic Leap's second-gen headset would be available later in the year. It was 20 percent lighter than its predecessor and has a larger field of vision. Monday's statement by Johnson stated that the Magic Leap 2 will become the industry's most compact and lightweight device for enterprise AR. It is designed to encourage AR adoption in business.
Johnson also posted Monday about her first year as Magic Leaps CEO. Johnson cited the growing demand for AR across all industries and cited research by International Data Corp. (IDC), which showed that the AR/VR market will grow to $140 Billion by 2024.
She gave a list of the company's enterprise customers, which included Ericsson and Farmers Insurance. Farmers Insurance used the company's technology to train its employees remotely during the pandemic. Johnson stated that Magic Leap has formed strategic partnerships with Google Cloud and VMWare, PTC, NVDIA and NVDIA.
Johnson stated that Magic Leaps core business focuses on enterprise solutions. However, he added that there is still a lot of interest in Magic Leaps technology being used in the consumer space. We have been approached by several people to license our technology. If they improve our position or allow us to innovate in the enterprise space, we will pursue these opportunities.
