hyperTunnel and the EIC Accelerator: Robot Tunnels, Then Collapse

hyperTunnel set out to build tunnels without first digging them. The company, incorporated in Basingstoke in 2018, used swarms of small robots guided by a digital model of the ground to 3D-print a tunnel's shell into the soil before excavation. In October 2022 it showed a six-metre, two-metre-high demonstration tunnel at its Hampshire site, which it called the world's first robot-built tunnel, according to Tunnels and Tunnelling.

At the March 2022 cut-off the European Innovation Council selected hyperTunnel for a grant for hyperSwarm, swarm construction to transform tunnelling. No Horizon Europe grant appears on CORDIS; the administrators' statement of proposals, filed at Companies House, lists a "UKRI – Hyperswarm Grant" among the company's assets. On 22 July 2024 its parent received a demand to repay £12 million of convertible loan notes from its main investor. The company, described by the administrators as "pre-revenue", could not pay and went into administration the next day. All staff were made redundant on 31 July 2024.

What Happened to hyperTunnel

The administrators, Opus Restructuring, wrote that the company had been seeking up to £10 million of investment, including from its main investor, when the loan was called. On 9 September 2024 they sold the assets of hyperTunnel and its parent for £1.5 million to Moor Park Capital NG Ltd; they said the buyer was legally unconnected but that its director "is the main investor for the Group". The price included £749,997 for goodwill and £1 for the business's intellectual property rights. In July 2025 the case moved to creditors' voluntary liquidation, and the latest liquidators' statement was filed in September 2026.

The Technology: Printing a Tunnel in the Ground

In the 2022 demonstration, robots entered the ground through plastic pipe arches and deposited material to form the tunnel shell, guided by a digital twin. Network Rail's network technical head for mining and tunnels said the method moved it "a step closer" to less disruptive work. In early 2024 hyperTunnel began a full-scale pilot, an underpass at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence in Wales sponsored by Innovate UK, which was still in development when the company failed.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

hyperSwarm was to bring "disruptive step-change improvements to tunnelling". There is no EIC project, budget or report on CORDIS. The administrators wrote that the company had been running projects for UKRI, including HyperSwarm and the GCRE work, which they could not complete because the contracts required it to be trading as a going concern. UKRI told them £41,196 was still due to the company.

1. Demonstration tunnelBuiltOctober 2022, 6 m.
2. HyperSwarm projectNot completedStopped by administration.
3. Full-scale pilotNot completedGCRE underpass.
4. RevenueNone"Pre-revenue" in 2024.

The Money

hyperTunnel was funded by convertible loans from its main investor, £12 million of which fell due on 30 July 2024. It never reported revenue, and it had overdue accounts after April 2023, according to Companies House. The administrators expected preferential creditors to be paid in full; the return to unsecured creditors was "uncertain".

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

The EIC's 2022 selection pointed public money at a radical idea for building underground. The company depended on loans from its main investor; when they were called in, the projects stopped and the assets were sold to a company that investor directs, for a fraction of the debt.

The Verdict

hyperTunnel's liquidators and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.