Forto nets $250 Million in Series D round; company valued at $2.1 Billion

Digitized freight forwarding and supply chain solutions provider Forto has announced it has raised $250 Million in a pre-emptive Series D investment round led by Disruptive.

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In a statement, Forto said that existing investors including Softbank Vision Fund 2, G Squared, Northzone, Unbound, and A.P. Moeller Holding all participated in the latest funding round, after which the company’s valuation reached $2.1 billion. The transaction remains subject to statutory closing conditions and is expected to conclude in the next few weeks.

Forto CEO and Co-Founder Michael Wax said the $250 Million investment came “earlier-than-anticipated” and added that it would further advance the company’s plans to enhance its offering for customers.

“We recognise that this is an exceptionally challenging period for many of our customers.  As our business remains well-funded from our previous round in 2021, this new round will simply allow us to accelerate the execution of our existing strategy, particularly on our geographic expansion. It will allow us to further widen our customer offer, bring our technology platform support to customers in new markets, and capitalize on new opportunities as they arise,” said the CEO.

The latest investment comes eight months after the June 2021 announcement of a $240 million investment round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2. All together, the total investment Forto has raised is now over $600 million to date.

Alex Davis, CEO of Disruptive, a technology investment firm based in t Austin, Texas, said that the investment was made for the following reason:

“The last few years have presented significant challenges and well-publicized uncertainty around the worldwide movement of goods.  They have clearly highlighted the need for further visibility and control across the supply chain, and for Forto’s transformative solutions. Forto has significant potential to drive real change and improve global logistics experiences for customers across industries and touching all sectors of the shipping industry.”

Forto currently has offices across Germany and Asia (including Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Singapore and Hong Kong).  Last year, the company also opened offices in Copenhagen, Aarhus,  Madrid, Rotterdam and Ho Chi Minh City.

As for this year, Forto said it has plans to “further expand its footprint to customers in Poland, Belgium, Sweden and southern Europe”.

The company added that it plans to expand its senior leadership team to underpin its growth, while also developing its offering to help make global trade more sustainable.