Inven Capital, the venture capital fund backed by energy utility Čez, has led a $50m funding round for Germany-based freight management software provider Forto, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday.
Shipping firm AP Moller – Maersk also took part in the round, along with Iris Capital, Rider Global, Northzone, Cherry Ventures, Unbound and H14. It increased Forto’s funding to $103m since it was founded in 2016 as FreightHub.
Forto has built a cloud-based supply chain management system that enables users to book freight shipping more easily while tracking their goods in real time. The capital will support expansion in Europe and Asia as well as the addition of new features to the service.
Inven Capital CEO Petr Míkovec, said: “We strongly believe in Forto’s vision to simplify international carriage of goods and make shipping containers as simple as sending an email. Not only do customers get incredible insights into their supply chain, they can also make smarter, sustainable decisions.”
The company raised $3.3m in seed capital from Saarbruecker21, Global Founders Capital (GFC), Cherry Ventures, Cavalry Ventures and La Famiglia in 2016, the latter four returning for a $21m series A round in 2017.
Maersk’s corporate venturing unit, Maersk Growth, co-led Forto’s $30m series B round with Rider Global in May 2019, investing alongside Northzone, GFC, Cherry Ventures and Unbound.
