The Boring Company Closes $3 Billion Series D at $23 Billion Valuation
Electrek reported the tunneling startup closed a $3 billion Series D led by the UAE at a valuation roughly four times its 2022 figure, with a 150-kilometer UAE underground network as the deal's centerpiece commitment.
- Round size
- $3 billion Series D, per Electrek
- Valuation
- $23 billion, roughly 4x the ~$5.7B 2022 valuation, per Electrek
- UAE commitment
- 150+ km of tunnel across the UAE, plus 6.4-km Dubai pilot, per Electrek
- Vegas Loop ridership
- More than 4 million passengers carried, per Electrek
Originally reported by Electrek.
The Boring Company, Elon Musk's tunneling venture, closed a $3 billion Series D funding round led by the United Arab Emirates, valuing the company at $23 billion, Electrek first reported on September 10. The company announced the round on September 9. The new valuation is roughly four times the approximately $5.7 billion the company carried in 2022, according to Electrek.
The investor group, as reported by Electrek, includes Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Temasek, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Human Capital, Shamal Holding, and Baron Capital alongside the UAE and its affiliated investment entities. The capital is earmarked for hiring across engineering, operations, and production; scaling Loop projects; and further development of the Prufrock tunnel-boring machine, per Electrek. Musk said of the raise: "Defeating traffic is the ultimate boss battle. Even the most powerful humans in the world cannot defeat traffic."
The UAE is both the lead investor and the primary customer for the work the capital is meant to fund. The centerpiece of the deal is a commitment to build more than 150 kilometers of tunnel across the UAE, on top of a Dubai Loop pilot covering 6.4 kilometers and four stations, with construction slated to start in late 2026, according to Electrek. Precast production for the Dubai pilot is underway, the company says, but no passenger tunnel is yet open in the country.
Why it matters
The round is a test of whether infrastructure-scale capital can convert a single-city proof of concept into a replicable network. The Boring Company's only operating system remains the Vegas Loop, which has carried more than four million passengers and is entitled for a 123-station network after Clark County approved 19 additional stations, Electrek reported. Outside Las Vegas, the company holds a state permit for Nashville's Music City Loop, where tunneling began on February 25, 2026, with two Prufrock machines active by August and a third in final assembly in Texas, per Electrek. That operational record sits against a history Electrek documented in detail: roughly a dozen city projects announced since 2017, spanning Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, Ontario, San Antonio, Fort Lauderdale, and Los Angeles, none of which reached passenger service.
The UAE structure, in which the lead investor is also the paying customer for the largest contract, sidesteps the permitting and political obstacles that killed earlier projects in American cities. Whether that model translates to regulated Western markets is the core unanswered question the round raises.
What to watch
The most immediate test is whether the Dubai Loop pilot, with construction slated to begin in late 2026, delivers on schedule and at projected cost. A completed UAE project would give the company its first proof point outside Las Vegas and credibility to re-engage the domestic markets where earlier deals quietly collapsed.
Featured on @cpglatest: see the post
Sources
Related coverage
Dan-O's Seasoning Secures $25 Million PE Investment from The Newcastle Network
The Louisville-based spice brand, now in more than 22,000 U.S. retail doors, will use the capital to develop new product formats and extend its retail and online reach, per The Newcastle Network's announcement.
Intake Breathing Raises $62 Million From Camino Partners to Enter Mass Retail
Camino Partners, founded by KIND Snacks' Daniel Lubetzky, backed the round as the magnetic nasal dilator brand prepares to move beyond its DTC and Amazon channels into mass retail, per Modern Retail.
Kalshi Closes $1 Billion Round at $40 Billion Valuation
CNBC reported that Kalshi's $1 billion raise co-led by Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management values the exchange nearly eight times higher than it was just one year ago.