Magic Leap, one of the most well-funded startups in history, just took on a $280 million investment from Japan-based mobile phone operator NTT DOCOMO.
As Japan’s largest mobile operator, Docomo is slated to be Magic Leap’s exclusive telecommunications partner in Japan. Similar to Magic Leap’s exclusivity agreement with AT&T in the US, the partnership puts strong emphasis on the country’s upcoming 5G infrastructure.
With Docomo’s $280 million investment, Magic Leap’s total investment comes to a cool $2.6 billion, according to Crunchbase. The company’s penultimate investment round netted the AR startup $461 million in March 2018, led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign investment arm.
The partnership, Magic Leap says, will further the realization of the company’s so-called Magicverse, the large-scale AR infrastructure that the company hopes will encompass the world.
“DOCOMO is proud to offer new value-added services never experienced before to our customers and partners through our partnership with Magic Leap,” said NTT DOCOMO president and CEO Kazuhiro Yoshizawa. “DOCOMO aims to co-create advanced MR services and expand the XR market by leveraging open innovation and combining innovative technologies such as Spatial Computing provided by Magic Leap with DOCOMO’s assets including our 5G network and 70 million membership base.”
Magic Leap additionally says they’ll be working with Docomo to customize Magic Leap’s OS for the Japanese market, making it easier for Japanese developers to both use and develop for.