During the height of the pandemic in 2020, augmented reality (AR) startup Magic Leap, fresh off massive layoffs, seemed in danger of being shuttered or sold off for parts. Then the company pivoted by hiring Peggy Johnson, a veteran of Microsoft and Qualcomm, to lead its new mission to focus on enterprise customers instead of the consumer market.
In the following year, layoffs slowed, new hires picked up, and the company secured a new $542 million round of funding, valuing the company at roughly $2 billion. Now, Magic Leap has a new hardware offering better suited to compete with Microsoft’s HoloLens 2. Still, after years of hype, and the departure of its founder, doubts remain about Magic Leap’s quest to help lead the transition to immersive computing interfaces and a new metaverse dynamic. Quartz spoke with Johnson in early March.
The Magic Leap 2
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