HyperLoop One, previously known as Hyperloop Technologies, an L.A based company that will assist transportation of passengers and cargo in huge pneumatic tubes at a speed of hundreds of miles per hour has raised $85 million.
The recent funding round was led by DP World, Caspian VC Partners, WTI and OurCrowd.com. With this latest investment, the total funding of the company amounted to $245 million and a valuation of $700 million.
This is a mammoth amount especially for a company with no government approval, no revenue system, no commercial product and no proof that its transportation service will actually even be safe for passengers. However, in July, the company demonstrated a proof of their concept by launching a 28-foot long pod crafted out of aluminium and carbon fiber along a 1600-foot long tube. The whole demo lasted for around 5 seconds and the pod’s speed was around 192 miles per hour.
However, the actual job of putting this concept into reality is quite difficult. A lot of parameters including the cost and time required to complete the project are creating some major hurdles. However, the enthusiasm of company and its investors has not diminished.
On the other hand, Elon Musk has also come up with an idea, underground tunnelling which according to him is a more practical, requires less time and is also a cost-effective project. According to a venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, an investor and a member of the board of directors of two companies led by Elon Musk – SpaceX and Tesla said that since The Boring Company only envisions to use electric cars in their tunnels, the cost of air handling for all the exhaust pollutants reduces dramatically. Also, since only a few simple things like scrubbers need to be introduced in the tunnels, their size reduces to a great extent.
The Boring Company recently said that it though it will use electric cars initially, they are going to develop their own hyperloop technology soon. The two companies seem to be in a fierce race to ace the hyperloop concept.