Elon Musk's Boring Company raises $112.5 million for hyperloop

Reuters
SpaceX founder Elon Musk speaks at a press conference following the first launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., February 6, 2018. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

(Reuters) - Elon Musk's Boring Company has raised $112.5 million in equity, the firm said in a regulatory filing on Monday, as it seeks to build underground tunnels for its hyperloop transportation project. Musk, who also leads electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc and rocket company SpaceX, is seeking to revolutionize transportation by sending passengers packed into pods through an intercity system of giant, underground vacuum tubes known as the hyperloop. The funding comes about five months after Musk said the Boring Company would compete to fund, build and operate a "loop" to connect downtown Chicago with O'Hare Airport. Musk had earlier sold Boring Company hats and flamethrowers to raise funds. The Boring Company says tunnel-digging projects can cost as much as $1 billion per mile. Its goal is to lower these costs by a factor of 10 or more, its website says. (Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)