Hyperloop One raises $50 million in funding from Dubai's DP World

Los Angeles-based company Hyperloop One, which is working on technology for a futuristic transit system, said it had raised an additional $50 million as it prepared for a full-scale test of a Hyperloop system in the first quarter of 2017.

The hyperloop system uses magnets to levitate pods inside an airless tube, and allows floating pods to shuttle people and cargo at speeds of up to 750 mph (1,200 kph).

The concept proposed in a paper by Tesla Motors Inc chief executive Elon Musk in 2013, envisioned a system that would be able to whisk passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes.

The latest round of funding worth $50 million comes from DP World Group of Dubai and takes its total funding to $160 million.

DP World Group, whose chief executive will also join Hyperloop One's board, had signed an agreement with the company in August to explore a Hyperloop system to move containers from ships docked at its flagship Port of Jebel Ali to a new inland container depot in Dubai.

Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One had earlier received funding from 137 Ventures, Khosla Ventures, the French National Rail Company and GE Ventures.

Former Uber chief financial officer Brent Callinicos also joined as full-time adviser to Hyperloop One chief executive Rob Lloyd and the board.

Hyperloops are currently not in operation anywhere and many who are sceptical of the plans and dismiss the technology as science fiction that might not become reality.

DP World Group, the world's third-largest ports operator has been working with Hyperloop One to pursue development of a hyperloop in the Gulf. Also Dubai Future Accelerators recently agreed to work with it to build the first hyperloop for cargo in the region.

According to commentators the $50 million was a convertible note and would form part of an ongoing raise towards a Series C round, which the company told TechCrunch would conclude sometime in 2017.