Participated · Series A · Jun 2016

Within is a Los Angeles and San Francisco-based virtual reality content and technology company co-founded by Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin. It uses custom-built tools and a VR app to create and distribute story-driven VR experiences. The company also operates a production house that produces its VR films as well as VR experiences for corporate and non-profit clients. Within raised $12.56M in Series A funding and intends to use the funds to expand operations and hire new people. The financing supports scaling its production and distribution capabilities while continuing to develop VR storytelling tools and content.

Participated · Series C · Feb 2016

Magic Leap develops augmented‑reality headsets and related software, having launched the Magic Leap One and later Magic Leap 2 as it shifted fully into enterprise use cases. The company targets verticals such as healthcare, design, manufacturing and collaboration and is pursuing commercial adoption across customer use cases, applications and content. Magic Leap employs about 1,000 people and has raised roughly $4.5 billion in total funding to date. Leadership recently changed: Ross Rosenberg became CEO in November after Peggy Johnson stepped down; founder Rony Abovitz started the company in 2011 and left as CEO in 2020. Management says the product roadmap focuses on expanding field of view and immersiveness, making devices more mobile and less tethered, and ultimately reducing size and weight toward glasses‑like form factors. Magic Leap faces new competition from Apple’s Vision Pro (launching next month) and Meta Quest 3, but cites a slight pricing advantage ($3,300 versus Apple’s $3,500) and continued focus on enterprise precision use cases. Magic Leap is an augmented-reality startup focused on headsets and forthcoming AR glasses. The company has shifted its messaging and strategy to focus on enterprise customers after years of pursuing military and consumer opportunities and bankrolling expensive games for its costly headset. It revealed a smaller-footprint next device, called the Magic Leap 2, and said it will roll out that hardware sometime next year. The startup announced a $500 million financing at a $2 billion valuation from existing investors, echoing an October 2014 raise of $542 million at a reported $2 billion valuation. Crunchbase lists Magic Leap as having raised $3.5 billion in total funding; the company’s valuation has declined from $6.7 billion in 2019 and it nearly shut down last year, cutting staff and raising hundreds of millions at slashed valuation terms. The company replaced founder Rony Abovitz with former Microsoft VP Peggy Johnson as CEO and did not disclose the specific investors in the latest round. Magic Leap built high-profile augmented-reality hardware whose initial consumer device failed to meet expectations after years of hype. The company has abandoned consumer plans and is concentrating on enterprise opportunities, citing progress in healthcare, enterprise, and defense deals. In April it announced a large round of layoffs (about 1,000 jobs) and issued a WARN notice, later withdrawing that notice after new funding. CEO Rony Abovitz told staff the new financing came from unnamed current and new investors and hinted additional deals will be announced as they close. The company has raised roughly $2.6 billion across nine prior rounds. COVID-19 was cited by the company as a key reason for the April disruption. Magic Leap develops spatial-computing hardware and is pushing a cloud-oriented "Magicverse"—a spatially mapped digital infrastructure layer intended to enable cloud AR experiences. Its sole product, the Magic Leap One, retails for $2,295. The company has spent heavily on hardware and has been accused of having only marginal differentiation from competitors' devices. Leadership is emphasizing a shift toward platform and cloud plays, partnering with telecoms on 5G to support those ambitions. Magic Leap courts VR/game developers for content while also pursuing enterprise and strategic partnerships. Financially the company has raised substantial capital to fund its strategy, most recently securing additional financing from a major carrier. Magic Leap is an augmented-reality startup developing spatial computing hardware and software. Its first commercial device, the Magic Leap One Creator Edition, is described as a lightweight, wearable computer that enriches real-world experience with digital content; the Creator Edition is a limited developer-focused edition scheduled to ship later this year. Until the announcement the company had not launched a product, though it streamed a demo and specs of the Magic Leap One alongside the deal news. Magic Leap has raised roughly $2.35 billion to date to develop its hardware and software and completed a March financing that valued the company at $6.3 billion. Strategic backers named in the article include Google, Alibaba and Axel Springer. The company has entered an exclusive U.S. distribution and strategic partnership with AT&T covering network access, content distribution and devices, and AT&T will be the exclusive wireless distributor in select U.S. stores starting this summer. AT&T’s investment also makes its communications chief a board observer.