Magic Leap, the US-based augmented reality technology developer backed by corporates Alibaba, Qualcomm, Warner Bros, Alphabet and Legendary Entertainment, is looking to raise up to $1bn in funding, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
The company has authorised the sale of up to 37 million shares of Series D preferred stock priced at $27 per share, according to a filing seen by CB Insights, but no investors have yet been revealed. It will be valued at between $6.5bn and $7bn, according to various estimates.
Magic Leap is working on technology that would enable artificially created objects or animations to be superimposed into everyday scenes.
Although it has largely kept details of its technology under wraps, Magic Leap’s flagship product, a device called Magic Leap One, will be ready for shipment in the next six months according to a report in Bloomberg last month.
The Bloomberg article also stated that Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek was set to participate in a $500m round for Magic Leap that would value it at $6bn.
The company has so far raised almost $1.39bn of funding, most recently closing a $794m round in February 2016 led by e-commerce firm Alibaba at a reported $4.5bn valuation.
Google, part of the Alphabet conglomerate, also took part in the 2016 round, as did entertainment producer Legendary Entertainment, media group Warner Bros and Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm.
Fidelity Management and Research Company, KKR, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Andreessen Horowitz, Obvious Ventures, JP Morgan Investment Management, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Wellington Management Company and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates filled out the round.
Magic Leap had raised $50m from unnamed investors in early 2014 before adding $542m in a Google-led round that included Qualcomm Ventures, Legendary Entertainment, KKR, Vulcan Capital, KPCB, Andreessen Horowitz and Obvious Ventures in October the same year.