Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has raised $30 million in capital and $77 million in commitments and land rights

Hyperloop One and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) are the two main companies working on Elon Musk’s vision of the Hyperloop.

Both have set eyes on similar markets – the US, Emirates, Northern and Eastern Europe – to try and launch a first prototype of the innovation. Both are working on a magnetic levitation system that could allow the new means of transportation to reach speeds up to 760 mph (1220 Km/h).

Hyperloop One so far raised much more money in venture capital ($160 million), while HTT has been focusing more on a crowdsourced approach, with high-level contributors volunteering their time in exchange for stock options.

HTT has raised a $30 million equity investment from EdgeWater Investments, plus an additional $29 million of commitments and in-kind investment from companies such as Carbures Europe, Atkins, Leybold GmbH and others. To that, the company claims, you should add $26 million in man-hours and services, and $22 million in land rights, bringing the total to more than $100 million in “investments”.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. (HTT) was founded in November, 2013, birthed of JumpStartFund—a unique crowdfunding and crowdsourcing incubator platform that uses collective knowledge and assets to make ideas like Hyperloop™ a reality. HTT is a collaborative organization built within the egalitarian ecosystem of a company that values every one of its contributors—both individual and entity. Collaborations with groups such as Atkins, Leybold Corporation, and Deutsche Bahn have resulted in tremendous advancement of the Hyperloop™ transportation system, setting stage for commitment to an installation in Quay Valley, California.

HTT has an exclusive agreement with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for use their passive magnetic levitation system as the core of low-cost, safety-conscious construction and design in the Hyperloop™. The company is partnered with more than 600 professional team members who provide the company with engineering, physics, legal, human resources, media relations, logistics, and construction talent to fuel a company that is uniquely collaborative and talent-laden.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies envisions national and international networks of lines connecting major metropolitan regions in point-to-point service. Initially, HTT is focused on building a functional five-mile test track in Quay Valley, California, between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

HTT has reached an agreement with Slovakia to serve as a hub in developing an Hyperloop™ line connecting Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest.

HTT is also researching an east-west line between Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia’s two largest cities, on opposite ends of the country, 250 miles apart. The estimated 25-minute trip by Hyperloop™ is more than 10 times faster than the current trip of 4.5 hours by car.

The Hyperloop enables construction and operation costs that are significantly lower than any other mass transport system. Thanks to the pylons, it can be built over land already in use for public transportation, such as in the medians of freeways minimizing footprint.

HTT (Hyperloop Transportation Technologies) and Deutsche Bahn launched a collaborative venture in July 2016 to create an “Innovation Train” that uses technologies being developed by HTT for the Hyperloop. Deutsche Bahn will finance implementations of the project, which will launch the first week of August on a production schedule that is expected to have the trains passenger-ready by the beginning of 2017.


SOURCES- Forbes, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Innovation Train