US-based transportation system developer Hyperloop One closed an $80m series B round today from a consortium featuring GE Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of conglomerate General Electric, and railway operator SNCF.
The round also included Sherpa Ventures, EightVC, ZhenFund, Caspian Venture, 137 Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Fast Digital and Western Technology Investment.
Founded in 2013, Hyperloop One is working on a transportation system that uses vacuum tubes to accelerate trains to the speed of sound. The technology could provide travel times of 30 minutes from San Francisco to Los Angeles – a journey that currently takes 90 minutes by plane.
The concept was first discussed by Elon Musk, founder of payments processing service PayPal and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, in 2012, when he invited other entrepreneurs to further develop the idea.
Hyperloop One, which rebranded from Hyperloop Technologies at the same time as announcing the series B round, is set to conduct a propulsion open-air test tomorrow in Las Vegas. It also intends to participate in feasibility studies in Sweden and Finland.
The company has also announced partnerships with a host of players with a stake in the transport sector, including Aecom, Amberg Group, Arcturan Sustainable Cargo, Arup, Bjarke Ingels Group, Cargo Sous Terrain, Deutsche Bahn Engineering & Consulting, FS Links, Grid, KPMG and Systra.
Hyperloop Technologies raised $8.7m in June 2015 before extending the series A round to $25.7m in November. The series A round was backed by Sherpa Ventures, EightVC, ZhenFund and Caspian Venture Partners.