Hyperloop One raises $85M at a $700M valuation

Hyperloop One has raised an additional $85 million in funding, bringing its total haul to $245 million, which reportedly takes the company’s valuation to more than $700 million.

Investors in this round include DP World, Caspian VC Partners, WTI and OurCrowd.com, according to the company.

“The fact that we have made so much progress with governments around the world speaks to the transformative nature of Hyperloop One’s technology and the material transportation and societal benefits it unlocks,” Brent Callinicos, COO and CFO, Hyperloop One said in a statement.

The company says it has been in detailed discussions with many governments around the world about developing hyperloop projects and has completed feasibility studies in Dubai, the United Kingdom, Russia and the United States. If these discussions are successful, “we should be able to break ground in 2018-2019 and have the first operational hyperloop by Hyperloop One built somewhere in the world,” co-founder and Executive Chairman Shervin Pishevar told CNBC.

Hyperloop One was founded in 2014 and was one of two original companies attempting to fulfill Elon Musk’s vision for a tunnel-based transportation system that can transport people and packages at super-sonic speeds in vacuum tubes. It recently named the 10 winning submissions in their global contest to find the best location for future hyperloop tracks. Interestingly, there are two Indian teams on the list-  Hyperloop India and AECOM India.

Hyperloop India, a team of academicians and researchers from top engineering, business, and design schools of India, namely BITS Pilani, IIMA, ISB, NID, proposed a Mumbai-Chennai route that would provide an east-west connection across India. AECOM India, on the other hand, proposed a 334-kilometer route from Bangalore to Chennai.