Here’s an update on Magic Leap:
- Planned to sell over 100k of its AR headsets in 1st year, but sold 6k in first 6 months
- Recently laid off dozens of employees
- Google/Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai left the board last year theinformation.com/articles/dente…
- Planned to sell over 100k of its AR headsets in 1st year, but sold 6k in first 6 months
- Recently laid off dozens of employees
- Google/Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai left the board last year theinformation.com/articles/dente…
Magic Leap is the most well-funded startup building AR headsets of the past decade, with a last known valuation of over $6 billion. The company has raised over $2b to date, but is an expensive operation with a monthly burn of roughly $40-$50 million in 2018 alone.
Its CEO is known for flamboyant statements about its technology, and has over the years told employees he thinks Magic Leap will one day have a $100 billion valuation and hold a trillion-dollar IPO.
When employees gathered in a war room for the rollout of the first headset, screens around them showed sales numbers the company hoped for, rather than actual incoming sales. (ML caught flack years ago for promoting videos of its tech that were actually made with special effects)
Magic Leap is currently raising more money and recently assigned its vast patent portfolio to JP Morgan as collateral. It’s working a 2nd-gen headset with major improvements that will likely take years to arrive. (Apple, Facebook and other tech giants are working on similar tech)
If you are a current or former Magic Leap employee/investor, I’d love to talk to you. DMs are open and you have my discretion.
Update: Here’s what Magic Leap CMO’s had to say about this story earlier this week 
