The Boring Company Raises $3bn at $23bn Valuation, Led by UAE
September 10, 2026 – 10:05 am
A Cybertruck in a Boring Company Loop tunnel
Credit: The Boring Company
Elon Musk’s tunnelling company has raised $3bn at a valuation of $23bn, led by the United Arab Emirates and affiliated investment entities—four times its 2022 valuation—and a long way from the
proposed Washington to New York hyperloop announced in 2017.
The money will be used for over 150km of tunnel construction across the UAE, in addition to the Dubai Loop contract already secured. The company detailed this funding round and its rationale in its
Series D announcement
. Human Capital, Vy Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Temasek, Shamal Holding, and Baron Capital also participated.
Proceeds will go towards hiring in engineering, operations, and production departments, as well as advancing projects in Vegas Loop, Music City Loop in Nashville, and Dubai Loop. It will also support work on its Prufrock boring platform.
What is notable from the announcement is the unique term sheet. Investors were required to assist with recruitment or business development, including introducing officials in cities where The Boring Company seeks excavation permits, and the company reserved the right to buy back shares if these tasks were not successfully completed.
This structure was reported by the Wall Street Journal on September 4, which Musk later confirmed on X with a single word: “True.”
“Defeating traffic is the ultimate boss battle. Even the most powerful humans in the world cannot defeat traffic,” states Elon Musk.
Reading both documents together, they complement each other. The public announcement emphasizes the company’s digging speed, while the term sheet highlights the challenges of securing permits.
While boring machines are not the primary bottleneck, permits are—a point TNW previously noted when the company
promised a hyperloop
and delivered cars through an underground tunnel. A company prioritizing access to municipal officials as part of its equity structure indicates exactly where the scarce resource lies.
The wisdom of this approach is debatable and depends on the perspective of the involved cities. An investor acting as an unpaid government relations function under contractual pressure is a practice that, in many jurisdictions, has specific names and registration requirements.
Nothing suggests any impropriety has occurred, and both the Journal’s report and Musk’s confirmation were transparent about this arrangement. However, it still raises questions about shareholder roles and responsibilities.
The engineering advancements, however, are worthy of note as they represent the company’s strongest case in years. Newer Prufrock machines launch and retrieve directly from a transporter, eliminating the need for a launch pit, crane, and civil works that typically precede tunnel construction.
By August, ring building had achieved full autonomy, with six concrete segments weighing approximately 3,750 lbs each placed with millimetre precision in under a minute, all monitored from a control center in Texas.
The system is specified to handle up to 990 tons per hour, supporting advance rates of up to four miles per week.
There are also new operational figures: Vegas Loop has carried over four million passengers, Clark County has entitled 123 stations, and the company claims it has started its 25th tunnel overall and its 14th in Las Vegas. The Encore connector was completed in under 12 weeks, reducing a 15-minute surface trip to approximately 55 seconds.