Magic Leap

Google will become the lead investor in one of the largest venture deals to finance $542 million startup Magic Leap, which develops augmented reality glasses and 3D special effects, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Financial Times (FT) report. The list of investors also includes chip maker Qualcomm, film company Legendary Entertainment, private company KKR, Paul Allen's investment company Vulcan and three venture funds - Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Andreessen Horowitz and Obvious Ventures. According to WSJ sources, the valuation of Magic Leap in this deal is up to $2 billion. As a result of the deal, Google representatives will join the Magic Leap board of directors: the head of the Android and Chrome divisions Sundar Pichai and vice president of corporate development Don Garrison.

Magic Leap was founded by Ronnie Abowitz, who sold his medical robotics company Mako Surgical to Stryker Corp. for $1.65 billion last year.

With the help of glasses, which Magic Leap is working on, it will be possible to see digital objects embedded in the real world. The main difference between Magic Leap and other smart glasses is that the gadget displays the image not on a miniature display attached to the glasses, as, for example, Google Glass does, but projects it directly onto the retina of the eye. Abowitz claims that Magic Leap will replace laptops and smartphones in the future. He calls the developed technology “cinematic reality.”

Earlier this year, Google rival Facebook paid $2 billion for virtual reality headset maker Oculus Rift.

Google will show "cinematic reality"