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Hyperloop One

Transport techUSA
New to Unitard
πŸ’€ Dead / Bankrupt
PeakΒ $1.5 BillionToday
~-100%
from peak
  1. πŸ¦„
    Became a unicorn
    2017
  2. πŸ“ˆ
    Peak valuation
    $1.5 Billion ’17
  3. πŸ’”
    Became a Unitard
    Dec 2023
  4. πŸ’Έ
    Last valuation
    Wiped out
Capital raised
$450M
Total raised
$130K/day
Raised per day

Total raised averaged per day over approximately 9.5 years from founding to bankruptcy or shutdown. This is not measured cash burn. Methodology

Funding: PitchBook via Bloomberg
Current status
Shut down 2023; asset sale

The rise & fall

9 moments Β· 2014–2024

The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.

2014
Founded to make the hyperloop real
Shervin Pishevar and Brogan BamBrogan spin Elon Musk's white-paper concept into a venture-backed company in Los Angeles.
Wikipedia
May 2016
A sled screams across the Nevada desert
The first public propulsion test hits the sand at speed; the hype goes global.
Reuters
2017
The peak: ~$1.5B and a Virgin rebrand$1.5B
Richard Branson's Virgin invests and lends its name; the tube-transport dream enters the unicorn club at what proves the top.
Bloomberg
Nov 2020
Two humans actually ride it
A first crewed test in the Nevada desert makes history β€” but never converts into a commercially viable route.
CNBC
Feb 2022
Pivot to cargo, half the staff cut
Passengers are out, freight is in; the layoffs begin.
Bloomberg
From the inside Β· Glassdoor reviews, 2022–23
Glassdoor reviews chart the unraveling from inside: three CEOs in roughly a year, vendor credit accounts so far in default that engineers' parts orders bounced, a head of engineering fired weeks after his concept was approved β€” and by mid-2023, a survivor counting about 20 remaining engineers sharing the office with the CEO's dogs.
Dec 2023
Shuts down β€” joins the Unitard Club πŸ’”
After $450M raised and a decade of renderings, the remaining staff are let go and the test track goes quiet.
Bloomberg
2024
The sell-off
Assets are sold and the intellectual property lands with majority owner DP World.
Canary Media
$1.5Bof peak value erased Β· 9 years

πŸ’¬ entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor β†—; dated facts carry their source.

How it happened

Hyperloop One (later Virgin Hyperloop) aimed to build ultra-fast tube-based transport, reaching a ~$1.5B valuation around 2017 backed by major investors. Despite a 2020 passenger test, it failed to secure a commercially viable route, pivoted to cargo, and shed staff.

By mid-2023 a survivor counted about 20 remaining engineers sharing the office with the CEO's dogs; it shut down at the end of 2023, wiping out essentially all value.

Source: Canary Media

Where they went

  • Josh Giegel
    co-founder & last CEO
    Founder/CEO at Gambit
    LinkedIn β†—
  • Shervin Pishevar
    co-founder & chairman
    Not on record
  • Brogan BamBrogan
    co-founder & CTO (left 2016)
    VP of Customer Operations & Integration, Co-Founder at Ethos Space
    LinkedIn β†—

Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-19. See our methodology.

Disclosed investors (28)

Historical funding participation; lists may be incomplete and do not establish current ownership or investor losses.

* Lead in a funding round Β· Crunchbase β†— Β· 2026-10-13 Β· Methodology Β· Leaderboard

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πŸ¦„