Ziyavudin Magomedov, a top businessman from Dagestan, took part in Hyperloop One’s latest $50 million round of funding and became a member of the US startup’s board of directors, Russian business daily RBC reported last week.
The Russian billionaire had already participated in two previous rounds of the company. The latest one, which amounted to $80 million, took place in May 2016.
Magomedov’s contributions go through Caspian VC Partners (CVC), the venture fund which he launched last year with plans to invest up to $300 million in Russian and international startups.
He was quoted as saying: “In the long term, Hyperloop could catalyze the development of regional economic integration, including the Eurasian Economic Union and the Chinese initiative ‘One Belt, One Road'” — a reference to China’s economic development strategy which includes the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’ and the ’21st Century Maritime Silk Road’ across Eurasia.
Since its launch, CVC has also invested in Uber, Uber China, Peek.com and Asapp.com.
Previoulsy known as Hyperloop Technologies, Hyperloop One is developing vacuum tube-based transportation technologies based on Elon Musk’s models.
Earlier this year Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, a competitor of Hyperloop One, was in talks with a Russian private investor to finance its launch in Russia, as reported by East-West Digital News.
