Former Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff has a new job: Caraeff announced Wednesday on Twitter that he is joining the secretive augmented-reality startup Magic Leap as chief content officer:
Excited to share I am joining @magicleap as Chief Content Officer! Super talented team & incredible mission + vision https://t.co/6wuRBxeUiR
— Rio Caraeff (@riozilla) July 1, 2015
In a press release announcing the deal, the company said that Caraeff will be tasked with the “development, operations and business management of Magic Leap’s cloud-based ecosystem and media network.” The release also quotes Caraeff saying:
“My head exploded when I first experienced what the Magic Leap team was working on. It is certainly the most exciting development in media and technology that I’ve ever seen, which is why I had to do whatever it takes to join the talented team that (Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz) has assembled. Building out the network of services, applications and content experiences to bring some magic into the world is the mission and I could not be more thrilled to join.”
Dana Beach, Florida-based Magic Leap has been developing augmented-reality technology since 2010. The company has yet to reveal many details about its technology, but it is thought to involve the projection of images on a user’s retina via a head-mounted display, which will combine views of the real world with computer-generated images.
Magic Leap has made headlines in part because of its funding: The company has been able to raise a total of $592 million over just two rounds, with Google participating in a massive $542 million Series B last October.
Caraeff served as the founding CEO of music video streaming service Vevo from May 2009 until the end of last year. He has since been replaced by Erik Huggers, who previously led Intel’s internet TV efforts.
