Augmented Reality Company Raises $793.5 Million to Bring Mysterious Product to Market Faster

Florida-based Magic Leap, the company that aims to blend the digital and physical worlds, announced today that it raised a whopping $793.5 million in funding. Alibaba Group led the funding round, with further funds from a range of big-name companies from multiple industries such as Google, Qualcomm, Warner Bros., Fidelity Management, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price, and the Wellington Management Company.

"Here at Magic Leap we are creating a new world where digital and physical realities seamlessly blend together to enable amazing new experiences," Magic Leap founder, president, and CEO Rony Abovitz said in a statement.

Magic Leap's as-yet-unannounced product is a "computing platform that will enable you to seamlessly combine and experience your digital and physical lives."

Google and Qualcomm were early investors in Magic Leap that stepped up again for this new round. Other existing investors include Legendary Entertainment, KKR, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Andreessen Horowitz, Obvious Ventures, and other unspecified groups.

Abovitz told Wired the new investment will help the company bring its still-unannounced product to consumers faster and integrate better with the Chinese market. As part of Alibaba's investment, Alibaba executive Joe Tsai will join Magic Leap's board of directors.

According to Wired, Magic Leap now has a valuation of $4.5 billion--and it hasn't released anything yet.

Magic Leap has not said when its mysterious product will be available. Check out the videos in this post to see what the technology is apparently capable of achieving.

Microsoft is also working on augmented reality technology with its HoloLens headset.