Hyperloop One becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’ with Virgin Group investment

Hyperloop One has received a significant investment in Hyperloop One — the official figure hasn’t been revealed, but it’s enough that the Hyperloop tech startup, which aims to create networks of high-speed transportation tunnels to various locales across the globe, has changed its name. Virgin Hyperloop One is the entity’s official moniker going forward, which is quite a mouthful.

Virgin Hyperloop One’s rebrand will mean it gains from association with Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, whose high-tech transportation exploits include Virgin Galactic and other space-based ventures. The goal of the company under the rebrand remains the same, and it’ll continue to explore the best places and partners for deploying its high-speed transportation tech, which will zoom pods at high speed down extremely low-pressure tubes to reduce trip times over land from hours to minutes.

The money isn’t the only connection between Hyperloop One and Virgin; the Hyperloop company’s president of engineering, Josh Giegel, is a former Virgin employee. Branson noted in a blog post that he also visited Hyperloop One earlier this summer to view its technology first-hand, at the Hyperloop One DevLoop test track site in Nevada, outside Las Vegas.

Recently, Hyperloop One (sorry, Virgin Hyperloop One — that’s going to take some getting used to) announced that it had selected a range of finalists for its global competition to identify potential routes, and it has announced a few public-private partnerships to undertake feasibility studies.

Right now it appears that Hyperloop One’s business will remain on track with the rebrand, and it’s probably a good thing to have a close billionaire friend with a passion for future modes of transport when you’re trying to build a brand new type of high-speed ground transit.