Google is looking to put $500 million behind Magic Leap, a company that works to create "cinematic reality."
The investment round is being led by the search giant, and sources say that Andreessen Horowitz could be one of the other investors, according to The Register.
Magic Leap said it provides "the most natural and human-friendly wearable computing interface in the world."
These 3D experiences would put Magic Leap in competition with Facebook's Oculus Rift, which offers virtual glasses that provide a 3D experience for users when they play video games or watch movies, JBG News reported.
While Oculus Rift has grown in popularity and continues to release new versions of its development kit, it still receives criticisms over its video quality. Magic Leap plans to allow users to adjust the focus in the virtual reality, as opposed to providing a flat image like the one that comes with Oculus Rift. The company also aims to have their 3D experience make the user less sick while in virtual reality, which is another complaint among those who use Oculus Rift.
Google's investment follows eight months after Magic Leap received a funding round of $50 million, The Register reported. The company said it used this funding to "advance the product development and commercialization of its proprietary human computing interface technology, known as Cinematic Reality."
Rony Abovitz, chief executive of Magic Leap, said in an interview with the South Florida Business Journal that the company is developing a new method for humans to use to communicate with computers.
"We are a stealth company. We definitely need to keep it under wraps until it's ready to go," Abovitz said, adding that there is a checkered history behind virtual and augmented reality.
"They are associated with things that didn't necessarily deliver on a promise or live up to expectations," he said. "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."
