After running ashore earlier this year, Dutch startup Hardt Hyperloop has secured a multi-million-euro investment to continue developing its transport technology. US investor Green Rock led the round, with existing backers Perpetuum Ventures and Urban Impact Ventures also participating. The amount raised hasn’t been disclosed.
Hardt ran into financial trouble as losses mounted and an anticipated European subsidy failed to materialize. The new funding will support technology development, preparations for planned projects and the development of new ones. A separate agreement with Green Rock covers joint project development across North, Central and South America, although no concrete initiatives have been announced.
Founded in 2016 by Delft University of Technology students, Hardt develops systems for magnetically levitated vehicles traveling through low-pressure tubes. Reducing air resistance could enable speeds of hundreds of kilometers per hour. At the 420-meter European Hyperloop Center in Veendam, the company demonstrated an unmanned vehicle traveling at 30 kilometers per hour in 2024, well below its eventual target of 700 kilometers per hour.
Hardt also points to Germany as a potential early market. The German government has committed to a national hyperloop reference line, for which Research Minister Dorothee Bär intends to make 100 million euros available.
