US-based transport technology developer Virgin Hyperloop One has raised $172m in funding from investors led by port terminal operator DP World, The Verge reported on Tuesday, citing a regulatory filing.
DP World provided at least $90m and made up part of a list of 80 investors, though none of the other participants were identified in the filing, which revealed Hyperloop One is seeking an additional $52.5m to close the round at approximately $225m.
Founded in 2014 as Hyperloop Technologies, the company is developing a vacuum tube transport system that was first proposed in a white paper by entrepreneur Elon Musk, who made the designs publicly available.
The latest round brings Hyperloop One’s funding to $467m to date. It secured $50m in a funding round co-led by DP World and venture capital firm Caspian Venture Capital in December 2017.
Conglomerate Virgin had invested an undisclosed sum in the company in October 2017, when it rebranded to Virgin Hyperloop One, after receiving $85m in series B-1 capital the previous month from investors including GE Ventures, a subsidiary of industrial group General Electric.
The series B-1 round also featured Caspian Venture Capital, OurCrowd, Western Technology Investment (WTI) and Khosla Ventures.
DP World had earlier led a $50m round for the company in October 2016, that added to $80m in funding from GE Ventures, rail transportation provider SNCF, Caspian, WTI, Khosla Ventures, EightVC, Sherpa Ventures, ZhenFund, 137 Ventures and Fast Digital five months earlier.
