Forto becomes a unicorn with Softbank millions

In the latest financing round, the logistics start-up Forto receives 240 million US dollars. Softbank is a new investor.

The Japanese telecommunications group Softbank and existing investors, including the VCs Citi Ventures and G Squared from San Francisco and London-based Northzone, have invested 240 million US dollars in Forto from Berlin. This increases the company's valuation to more than 1.2 billion US dollars, the equivalent of just over one billion euros. "As far as we know, this is the largest financing round for a logistics start-up in Europe," Forto co-founder and CEO Michael Wax told the Handelsblatt.

Forto intends to invest the money in business between China and Europe. The logistics start-up offers a platform that customers can use to optimize their supply chain. The Berlin-based start-up promises savings of 30 percent in administrative costs and 15 percent in total costs per shipment. Forto has more than 2,500 customers and operates 10 branches worldwide with currently more than 500 employees. Forto was founded in 2016. "A delivery from Shanghai to a warehouse in Berlin should be no more complicated than a payment via Paypal or Stripe," Wax told Reuters.

The current round brings the total investment volume in Forto to more than 300 million US dollars. Alongside Sennder, Forto is now the second German logistics start-up with a Unicorn rating. However, the Berliners do not see Sennder as competition: "We rather complement each other, Sennder could even be a partner for us on the last part of the transport route, the overland route," says Wax to start-up scene.