BASINGSTOKE, England, June 13,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- hyperTunnel,
the British underground construction innovator, has received a
financial investment from VINCI, a global leader in concessions,
energy and construction businesses. The funds will be used for
business expansion and to further develop and test hyperTunnel's
revolutionary construction method in practical
situations.
The deal further strengthens hyperTunnel's connections
with VINCI Construction technical departments.
hyperTunnel recently joined VINCI's innovation
platform Leonard as a member of its start-up accelerator programme,
Catalyst. hyperTunnel also won the prestigious annual
Construction Start-up Competition in Miami last year, which Leonard co-organises
with other sector heavyweights such as Ferrovial and Cemex
Ventures.
"hyperTunnel's technology can be truly game-changing
when it comes to improving the safety and sustainability of
underground construction projects," said Guillaume Bazouin,
Head of Start-up and Intrapreneurs programs at Leonard. "It
strongly aligns with our goals of rapidly responding to the climate
emergency by enabling technological advances that have a
substantial environmental impact. hyperTunnel also boasts
exceptional leadership and engineering teams, and we are looking to
support their great success in the near future."
hyperTunnel co-founder Jeremy
Hammond added, "VINCI and Leonard are real experts when
it comes to construction innovation, so to get their backing in
such a concrete and substantial way means we must be doing
something right. They can see the huge potential of the
technologies we're developing, and they share our passion for
improving how the world works. We're excited to see what we can
achieve together over the coming months."
Aquaa Partners acted as exclusive financial adviser to
hyperTunnel on the transaction.
Last week, the European Innovation Council
(EIC), Europe's flagship innovation programme to identify,
develop and scale up breakthrough technologies and game-changing
innovations, selected hyperTunnel to receive funding
of 1.88 million Euros
under its EIC Accelerator scheme. The
funding will be used to complete the development of hyperTunnel's
advanced swarm robotics underground construction
platform.
About hyperTunnel
hyperTunnel is a deep tech scale-up developing a
revolutionary methodology for tunnels and underground schemes
substantially faster, safer, more economically and more
environmentally friendly than current techniques. hyperTunnel uses
a unique combination of proven technologies from diverse industries
– digital twins, robotics, 3D-printing and digital underground
surveying, supported by AI and VR – to redefine possibilities in
tunnel construction, enlargement, monitoring and
repair.
Founded in 2018, hyperTunnel employs 40 people located at
its Basingstoke headquarters, and
outdoor learning environment (the hOLE) and Geolab in the North
Hampshire Downs.
In 2021, hyperTunnel announced a contract with Network
Rail. hyperTunnel has received a string of awards
and funding of 1.88 m
Euros from the European Innovation Council
(EIC)'s EIC Accelerator scheme.
hyperTunnel was recently picked by the government's Innovate UK
agency to join its Global Business Innovation
Programme. It won Startup of the Year at this
year's Construction Technology Awards;
was highlighted as a Top 50
Contech Startup and among 10 winners of the
global Construction Startup
Competition.
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SOURCE hyperTunnel