Virgin Hyperloop One raises $50 million and makes Richard Branson chairman
Reporting from San Francisco — Virgin Hyperloop One, a Los Angeles company developing a super-fast transportation system, announced it has raised $50 million from foreign venture capital investors and made Richard Branson the chairman of its board of directors.
The new round of funding, announced Monday, came from Dubai’s DP World and Russia’s Caspian Venture Capital. Axios, which first reported the story, called the money a lifeline for a company so low on cash that the jobs of some 300 employees were at stake.
Virgin Hyperloop One did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The funding round will help the company focus “on accelerating commercial agreements for both passenger and cargo projects,” Chief Executive Rob Lloyd said in a statement.
In October, Virgin Hyperloop One received $85 million from several investors, including Branson’s Virgin Group (resulting in the company’s name change from Hyperloop One). With the addition of this week’s $50-million investment, the company has in total raised $295 million since its 2014 founding.
The funding caps a tumultuous 18 months for the company. In summer 2016, co-founder Brogan BamBrogan sued fellow co-founder and investor Shervin Pishevar, alleging wrongful termination. Among the allegations laid out in the suit were nepotism, assault and threats made with a noose. They settled the suit that November, but BamBrogan launched a competing hyperloop company.
Pishevar was further embroiled in controversy this month when multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. He denied the allegations but resigned from the venture capital firm he co-founded, Sherpa Ventures, and took a leave of absence from Virgin Hyperloop One.
Virgin Hyperloop One is one of a handful of firms developing technologies in which passengers and cargo can be loaded into pods that travel at high speeds through low-friction tubes above or below ground. For example, the firm envisions 30-minute trips between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
The others include Boring Co., led by Elon Musk — who also founded Tesla Inc. and SpaceX — and Arrivo Corp., led by BamBrogan and other former Hyperloop One employees. Musk popularized the idea of such technology, unveiling a design in 2013.
Also on Monday, Virgin Hyperloop One said it had set a new speed record of 240 mph at its test site in Las Vegas.
Twitter: @traceylien
