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 programmes 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."

In addition, the European Innovation Council (EIC), Europe's flagship innovation programme to identify, develop and scale up breakthrough technologies and game-changing innovations, has selected hyperTunnel to receive funding of €1.88 million (US$1.96 million) under its EIC Accelerator scheme. The funding will be used to complete the development of hyperTunnel's advanced swarm robotics underground construction platform.