Magic Leap, the highly secretive augmented and virtual reality startup, is reportedly close to raising a $1bn (£651.4m) round of new venture funding, which would make it one of the largest rounds of investment ever.

According to the South Florida Business Journal, the newspaper of record for the companys hometown, the funding would place the startups valuation at over $4.5bn, more than doubling the companys worth since its last financing round.

Magic Leap closed its previous round almost exactly a year ago with $542m of new funding, led by Google, who have played a major role in the companys development. The funding round could place the firm in very select company, with only Uber, which raised $1.2bn twice in 2014, and Facebook, which raised $1.5bn in 2010, also having passed the billion-dollar mark in a single round of investment.

The companys technology has been kept closely under wraps so far, but has been referred to as cinematic reality and will project three-dimensional images into your field of view, similar to Microsofts HoloLens device.

While little has been seen of Magic Leaps work, the few glimpses that have emerged, along with the companys secrecy and high level of investment from big tech players, have industry experts very excited about what we can expect when a product finally appears.