Saudi Arabia pumps $590m into Apple Vision Pro rival Magic Leap

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has pumped more than half a billion dollars into a virtual reality headset to rival Apple’s Vision Pro goggles. 

Its Public Investment Fund has injected $590m (£463m) into Magic Leap, a US company developing head gear designed to superimpose virtual images over the real world.

Apple is to launch its long-awaited $3,499 Vision Pro headset on Friday, pitting it against Magic Leap and Facebook-owner Meta in the race to develop virtual and augmented reality gadgets.

Magic Leap launched an advanced pair of augmented reality glasses in 2015 but enjoyed little commercial success. The new debt funding brings the total raised by Florida-based Magic Leap, which has never turned a profit, to more than $4.5bn.

Filings for Magic Leap’s European division showed that, as of November, the group had issued “a further $590m of convertible debt to the Ultimate Parent Undertaking [the Public Investment Fund] in exchange for cash” in 2023.

Saudi Arabia became the majority owner of Magic Leap two years ago, The Telegraph previously disclosed, after the technology company was forced to turn to investors for more cash.

Launched by entrepreneur Rony Abovitz in 2010, Magic Leap previously raised funding from investors including Google and the US telecoms company AT&T. 

Mr Abovitz stepped down in 2020. His successor, Peggy Johnson, was replaced by former Bain Capital executive Ross Rosenburg in October.

While originally targeting its $3,299 headset at consumers, Magic Leap has since pushed its gadget towards corporate customers. It has also looked to license its intellectual property to other tech giants.

The Financial Times reported it had held talks with Meta last year about using its designs.

Tim Cook, the head of Apple, has said of its headset: “Vision Pro is years ahead and unlike anything created before.”