US-based augmented reality (AR) headset producer Magic Leap received $280m in funding from mobile network operator NTT Docomo on Friday as part of a strategic partnership agreement.
Magic Leap has created an AR headset with a dedicated operating system that superimposes 3D virtual objects onto the physical world using technology it has dubbed spatial computing.
The company will deliver its platform to Japan-headquartered NTT Docomo’s customers by tapping into the corporate’s forthcoming 5G infrastructure. The two will also work together on adapting Magic Leap’s operating system for the Japanese market.
The partnership forms part of Magic Leap’s aim to expand its ecosystem, dubbed Magicverse, internationally. The companies did not reveal the valuation at which NTT Docomo invested, but Magic Leap was valued at $6.3bn when telecommunications firm AT&T provided an undisclosed sum in July 2018.
Magic Leap had closed a $963m series D round in March 2018 after investors including media group Axel Springer’s corporate venturing unit, Axel Springer Digital Ventures, provided $461m for a second tranche, bringing its overall funding to $2.35bn.
The series D extension was led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund, and added to $502m raised from investors including e-commerce firm Alibaba, internet technology provider Google and mass media company Grupo Globo.
Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek led the first tranche, which was closed in 2017 and which included financial services group Fidelity Management and Research (FMR), JP Morgan Investment Management, Janus Henderson Investors, EDBI and T. Rowe Price.
Alibaba led the company’s $794m series C round in 2016, with participation from Google, entertainment studio Legendary Entertainment and entertainment producer Warner Bros, as well as Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm.
FMR, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Andreessen Horowitz, Obvious Ventures, KKR, Wellington Management and funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price also backed the series C round.
Google led a $542m series B round for Magic Leap in 2014 that featured Qualcomm Ventures, Legendary Entertainment, KPCB, Andreessen Horowitz, KKR, Vulcan Capital and Obvious Ventures. Unspecified investors had supplied $50m in series A capital for the company earlier the same year.
– Image courtesy of Magic Leap
