Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz is stepping down from the helm of his AR start-up

• Rony Abovitz is looking for a new CEO to run the augmented reality start-up he founded almost a decade ago.
•  The company raised billions for its mysterious mixed-reality headset that was supposed to transport you into a different world. 
• Abovitz wrote in a blog post that a change in his role is a "natural next step."

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman with Magic Leap founder Rony Abovitz

Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz is stepping down from his role at the augmented reality (AR) start-up he founded in 2011.

The highly-secretive company has raised around $3 billion from investors but it has only released one product, the Magic Leap 1 headset, which fell well short of people's expectations. 

The news was first reported by Business Insider and confirmed by Abovitz in a blog post. 

"As the Board and I planned the changes we made and what Magic Leap needs for this next focused phase, it became clear to us that a change in my role was a natural next step," wrote Abovitz.

"I discussed this with the Board and we have agreed that now is the time to bring in a new CEO who can help us to commercialize our focused plan for spatial computing in enterprise. We have been actively recruiting candidates for this role and I look forward to sharing more soon."

Last month, Magic Leap said it was planning to lay off a number of employees as part of a major restructure. Bloomberg reported the figure to be around 1,000 staff, or half the overall workforce.  

Magic Leap did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.