Big step for Magic Leap

Plantation-based tech firm draws investors.

Magic Leap announced Wednesday it has raised $461 million from Saudi Arabia investors, bringing its total financing raised to more than $2 billion.

About $400 million comes from The Public Investment Fund, an investment arm of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Plantation-based Magic Leap, which employs 1,400 people, including hundreds in South Florida, is preparing this year to launch its first product, a headset called Magic Leap One.

The company says its technology generates digital light blended with natural light “to produce lifelike digital objects that coexist in the real world.”

CEO Rony Abovitz said he welcomed the new investors. “We look forward to having them join us on our journey to build an amazing future,” he said in a news release Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia’s investment arm joins Google, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and other major investors that previously invested in the company that has developed what it calls a “mixed reality” technology platform to develop products for entertainment and other industries.

In October, Magic Leap raised $502 million in financing, from existing and new investors, including Google, Alibaba, Temasek, EDBI, a Singapore-based global fund, Grupo Globo from Brazil, and Janus Henderson Investors. Previously, Magic Leap raised $1.4 billion in rounds led by Google and Alibaba.

Magic Leap was founded in 2011 by Abovitz, and in the past year moved into a former Motorola plant space in Plantation. Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance president and CEO Bob Swindell said the company already is outgrowing the space and the economic development agency is working with Magic Leap on options.

Local and state government have pledged $9 million in incentives for Magic Leap’s $150 million capital investment in its headquarters and the creation of at least 725 jobs.

Headquartered in Plantation, Magic Leap also has locations in Los Angeles, Sunnyvale, Seattle, Austin, Dallas, Zurich, New Zealand and Israel.

SUSAN STOCKER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Magic Leap was founded in 2011 by Rony Abovitz, and in the past year moved into a former Motorola plant space in Plantation. “We look forward to having them join us on our journey to build an amazing future,” he said in a news release Wednesday about...