Internet and telecommunication group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 led a $240m funding round for Forto, a Germany-based producer of freight forwarding and supply chain management software.
Citi Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of financial services firm Citi, also took part in the round, as did Inven Capital, the venture capital fund backed by energy utility Čez, and VC firms G Squared Northzone, Cherry Ventures and Unbound.
The round valued Forto at $1.2bn and increased its total funding to $360m. Nahoko Hoshino, a representative from SoftBank Investment Advisers, which manages Vision Fund 2, will join its board of directors in connection with the round.
Founded in 2016 as FreightHub, Forto has developed supply chain management software used by businesses to oversee and manage the shipping process.
The company has 2,500 customers, including manufacturing companies and e-commerce brands, and plans to expand its technology platform and customer operations as well as enter new geographic markets.
Inven Capital led a $50m round for Forto in November 2020 that also featured shipping group AP Moller – Maersk, Iris Capital, Rider Global, Northzone, Cherry Ventures, Unbound and H14.
Maersk’s corporate venture capital arm, Maersk Growth, co-led a $30m series B round for the company in mid-2019 with Rider Global that included Northzone, Global Founders Capital (GFC), Cherry Ventures and Unbound.
GFC, Cherry Ventures, Cavalry Ventures and La Famiglia had participated in Forto’s $21m series A round in 2017 after joining Saarbruecker21 in its $3.3m seed round the year before.