Also, VCs don't fund public utilities / infrastructure, which are (at best) generally capital-intense, low-risk but low-return projects. If a project like the H

Also, VCs don't fund public utilities / infrastructure, which are (at best) generally capital-intense, low-risk but low-return projects. If a project like the Hyperloop had to depend on private funding, it would need to return hundreds of billions in value, and that's just not going to happen. To get things like eminent domain, it has to be built as a public good, which means it at the very least has to be affordable for the average citizen (in some form.) That's why projects like high speed trains should be funded out of the public coffer and are generally unsuitable for private investors. Now, building a company to develop Hyperloop tech / high-speed train technology? I'm sure that's something private investment could do, but I don't think it's really SV's forte - there are other places that would be better suited to that kind of engineering.