Hyperloop One Raises $50 Million, Dubai Port CEO Added to Board
Hyperloop Technologies Inc., a Los Angeles-based company building a futuristic transportation system, said it raised $50 million in convertible-debt financing and hired Uber Technologies Inc.’s former chief financial officer.
DP World Group of Dubai, one of the world’s largest ports operators, led the funding round, with its chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem taking a Hyperloop board seat. The company, known as Hyperloop One, has now raised $160 million.
RELATED: Hyperloop technology to be studied for freight transportation
Dubai-based DP World has partnered with Hyperloop to study the use of the technology to move containers from ships to an inland depot. The study will look at the handling of the containers, costs, benefits, demand and volume patterns of moving cargo using the technology, according to the two companies.
CEO Rob Lloyd, a former Cisco Systems Inc. executive, has made finding a chief financial officer and new strategic partners top priorities since joining the company last year. Hyperloop One already works with organizations such as French railway SNCF and engineering giant Arup Group.
The new hire, former Uber CFO Brent Callinicos, will serve as a full-time strategic adviser, the company said in a statement. Previously, he worked as vice president, treasurer and chief accountant at Google and also held various roles in finance at Microsoft Corp.
Uber and Hyperloop share an investor in Sherpa Capital’s Shervin Pishevar, who co-founded Hyperloop and is a board observer at Uber.
Hyperloop is working on technology that would use magnetic levitation in low-pressure tubes to transport people and goods at airplane-like speeds. It is battling a lawsuit from former employees whose charges range from defamation to breach of fiduciary duty, and has, in turn, filed counter lawsuits against them.
