Image credits: Forto
Forto, a Berlin-based online platform for freight forwarding, announced that it has secured $250M (approx €230M) in a pre-emptive Series D investment round led by Disruptive.
Existing investors, including Softbank Vision Fund 2, G Squared, Northzone, Unbound, and A.P. Moeller Holding, also participated. The Series D round raises the company’s valuation to $2.1B (approx €1.9B).
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Fund utilisation
The latest capital injection comes eight months after the company secured $240M (approx €220M) in June, 2021, led by Softbank Vision Fund 2. To date, the company has raised a total funding of $600M (approx €550M).
The company claims the investment will accelerate Forto’s international expansion and enable it to broaden its product offering.
Forto CEO and co-founder Michael Wax says, “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 capitalise on new opportunities as they arise,” he adds.
Forto recently appointed Jochen Freese, formerly Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer for CEVA Logistics, as Executive Vice President of Procurement and Business Development.
Forto: What you need to know
Founded by Michael Wax and Erik Muttersbach, Forto aims to deliver a highly transparent, frictionless, and sustainable digital supply chain.
The company addresses the entire process stream, from the offer, booking, document administration, tracking, and tracing to pro-active exemption processing and analysis.
Forto strives to make the movement of goods simpler and certain while simultaneously helping the logistics industry become more sustainable.
The German company has a global presence with offices across Germany and Asia, including Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Last year, the company expanded its European presence with offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark, Madrid in Spain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. It employs more than 750 people.
In 2022, Forto plans to expand its footprint to customers in Poland, Belgium, Sweden, and Southern Europe. Around 2,500 customers, including manufacturers and e-commerce brands, are using Forto’s digitally-focused solution.
Alex Davis, CEO of Disruptive, says, “The last few years have presented significant challenges and well-publicised 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,” he says.
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