Valencia-based Zeleros Hyperloop has completed a financing round worth more than €7 million. With this investment, the company starts a new phase in the development of its version of hyperloop, a train-like means of transport for long-distance routes for passenger and cargo. Connections like Paris – Berlin could be reduced to less than an hour. Just like Hardt Hyperloop in Groningen, Zeleros will now first build a test track for further research.
Zeleros opens this new stage thanks to the support of companies such as Altran, Grupo Red Eléctrica, Goldacre Ventures (United Kingdom), Road Ventures (Switzerland), Plug and Play (USA), and the Spanish Angels Capital and MBHA. “The funds will be used to impulse further development of Zeleros’ hyperloop vehicle and its core technologies”, the company says in a statement published today.
Zeleros is not the only business trying to establish a European or even global network of hyperloop systems. In the Netherlands, Hardt Hyperloop has recently reached an agreement with the province of Groningen to build a 3-kilometer test track. Two years ago, a group of four Canadian and European hyperloop companies started the development of an international partnership to define, establish, and standardize the methodology and framework to regulate vacuum-based hyperloop travel systems. The consortium was formed by Hardt, Zeleros, TransPod (from Canada, with offices in Italy and France), and Hyper Poland (from Poland).
The following step for Zeleros will be the deployment of the European Hyperloop Development Centre in Spain, including a 3-km test-track to demonstrate the effectiveness of its technologies at high speed. “The aim of this project is to accelerate the development of the hyperloop industry in Europe, by creating an ecosystem of international industrial, technological, and institutional partners”, says Zeleros CEO David Pistoni. “Hyperloop is a great development that requires the participation of first-class players and that is why from the beginning we decided to approach our project by creating a collaborative ecosystem. We combine Zeleros’ talented team and technology with the global experience provided by leading organizations in sectors such as railways, aeronautics, infrastructure, and electrification.”