Google is leading the $500 million funding round for hardware and software building company Magic Leap. Sources say that venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is one of the other investors joining Google in this venture. So far, Magic Leap has already achieved $50 million in funding at the early part of the year.
Magic Leap has gained an increasing interest from Silicon Valley and Hollywood. In February, it had successfully raised over $50 million which the company plans to use in the development of its propriety technology platform. The company declined to reveal who the investors were in the previous funding round. Rony Abovitz, the company's founder and chief executive, is also the creator of the surgical robotics company known as Mako Surgical. The latter is now acquired by Stryker at a whopping $1.65 billion deal.
Magic Leap is currently working on a new wearable computing interface which it believes would be the most natural and human-friendly in the world. Though the company is unwilling to elaborate, they were at least direct in saying that they can bring a more realistic 3-D experience which can surpass the one offered by existing technologies. One example is the Oculus Rift.
Magic Leap wants the user to have a more immersive experience by being able to view a real 3-D object seamed into the real world as opposed to seeing things flat and floating in space from a defined distance, something that is called as virtual and augmented reality.
"We have the term 'cinematic reality' because we are disassociated with those things...When you see this, you will see that this is computing for the next 30 or 40 years. To go farther and deeper than we're going, you would be changing what it means to be human," said Abovitz.
This new approach enables the company to combine virtual objects with the real physical world. By using techniques such as the '3-D light sculpture' and 'rocketship for the mind,' this type of combination becomes more immersive, less sickness-inducing, and can be free to share with other people.
Magic Leap has patent applications that cover a range of topics such as 3-D virtual and augmented reality, compact imaging systems, tactile glove, head-mounted displays and 'massive simultaneous remote digital presence world.' It has a relationship with New Zealand-based company Weta Workshop which is responsible for creating the special effects in 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy and other films.
Google already has its spot in the world of virtual reality with its Google Glass. Magic Leap would most likely be designing a special pair of glasses of its own which shall be worn directly in front of the user's field of view and will allow any adjustments to the depth of field.
