About Forto
Forto is a Transportation, Automotive & Logistics company based in Berlin (Germany) founded in 2016 by Erik Muttersbach, Fabian Heilemann, Ferry Heilemann, and Michael Wax. Tech-enabled freight forwarding services for multi-modal cargo transport are provided. It operates on a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) and Managed Services model. Forto has raised $610 million across 8 funding rounds from investors including Maersk, Unbound and Rocket Internet. The company has 482 employees. Forto was last valued at $2.1 billion in March 2022. Its website forto.com draws about 38 thousand monthly visits. Forto offers products and services including Sea Freight, Air Freight, Rail Freight, Forto Platform, and Sustainable Transportation. Its focus areas include Transportation, Freight Forwarding and Digital Freight Solutions. Its legal entity is Forto Logistics SE & Co. KG. Its competitors include sennder and DB Schenker; 1 of its 2 listed competitors has raised funding.
Company details
Forto is established as a digital freight forwarder providing fast, efficient, and sustainable transport solutions. Services are offered across sea, air, and rail freight, catering to various shipment volumes and distances. Advanced technology, including AI-powered operations and a proprietary platform, is utilized to manage shipments and ensure high data quality. Sustainability initiatives, such as biofuel options and ocean plastic prevention, are integrated into the offerings. The company operates globally with a network covering over 100 countries and maintains 15 offices in 7 countries to support international logistics needs.
- Headquarters Berlin, Germany
- Employees 482
- Founders Erik Muttersbach, Fabian Heilemann, Ferry Heilemann, Michael Wax
- Stage Unicorn
- SectorsTransportation, Automotive & Logistics
- Website category Business and Consumer Services · Shipping and Logistics
- Email••••••••
- Phone•••• ••••
- Website forto.com/en
- Social LinkedIn X Facebook YouTube
- Legal Name Forto Logistics Se & Co. Kg
- Total Equity Funding$610M (USD)
in 8 rounds
- Latest Funding Round$250M (USD), Series D
Mar 2022
- InvestorsMaersk
& 26 more
- Employee Count482
Products & Services of Forto
Forto offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including Sea Freight, Air Freight, Rail Freight, Forto Platform, and Sustainable Transportation.
Global transport for large volumes is efficiently provided.
Fast and reliable transport of goods is offered.
Dependable transport for long overland distances is ensured.
Shipment management and visibility are digitally facilitated here.
Biofuel options for air and sea are provided.
Apps and channels of Forto
its YouTube channel Forto has 26.5K subscribers and 22 videos.
Videos from Forto
The most watched videos on Forto's YouTube channel, Forto (26.5K subscribers). Click a video to play it here.
More on Forto.
Funding Insights of Forto
Forto has successfully raised a total of $610M across 8 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Series D round of $250 million completed in March 2022. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $610M
- Total Rounds 8
- Last Round Series D — $250M
- Investors Count 27
All 8 funding rounds of Forto with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2022 | $250M | Series D | $2.1B | Disruptive | |
| Jun 2021 | $240M | Series C | $1.2B | SoftBank Vision Fund | |
| Nov 2020 | $50M | Series C | – | Inven Capital | |
| Sep 2020 | Series B | – | Cherry Ventures, Inven Capital | – | |
| Jun 2020 | $22.43M | Debt – Conventional | – | – | |
| May 2019 | $30M | Series B | – | Rider Global | |
| Dec 2017 | $21.16M | Series A | – | Northzone | |
| Jun 2016 | Seed | – | Cherry Ventures | – |
| Date | Valuation | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2022 | $2.1B | •••••••• |
| Jun 2021 | $1.2B | •••••••• |
Last known valuation $2.1B (Mar 2022). 27 investors in total: 26 institutional and 1 angel.
Investors in Forto
Forto has secured backing from 27 investors, including venture fund, institutional, and angel investors. Prominent investors backing the company include Maersk, Unbound and Rocket Internet.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Earlybird is recognized as a venture capital investor focused on early-stage tech companies. | earlybird.com | Berlin, Germany | ||
Growth-stage technology companies are funded via primary and secondary investments. | gsquared.com | Chicago, United States | ||
Early-stage startups are funded by Northzone venture capital. | northzone.com | London, United Kingdom | ||
Venture capital fund investing in early-stage tech startups | disruptive.tech | Austin, United States | ||
Venture capital investments in technology and startups. | 2016 | visionfund.com | London, United Kingdom | |
Corporate venture capital firm backed by Citi | citi.com/ventures | San Francisco, United States | ||
Provider of early-stage venture capital funding for European technology companies | cherry.vc | Berlin, Germany | ||
Unbound is focused on building and backing long-term companies. | un-bound.com | London, United Kingdom | ||
Venture capital firm backed by CEZ Group | invencapital.cz | Prague, Czech Republic | ||
Venture capital fund focused on mobility, logistic, marketplaces, and e-commerce sectors | riderglobal.vc | Moscow, Russia |
Investor details for Forto
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
- Complete investor list
- Round participation
- Investor portfolios
- Co-investor network
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
People of Forto
4 people are tracked at Forto (4 in leadership); the tracked headcount is 482.
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Erik Muttersbach | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Fabian Heilemann | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Ferry Heilemann | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Michael Wax | Founder | Leadership |
Complete people profiles for Forto
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
- Full employee list
- Team structure
- Board tenure
- Professional contacts
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Timeline of Forto
4 dated milestones of Forto across 6 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Forto is founded.
- Funding First funding round.
- Milestone Reaches Unicorn status.
- Funding Latest funding round, Series D, of $250.0M.
Competitors of Forto
Forto has 2 listed competitors in our database, 1 of them funded. They include sennder and DB Schenker.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sennder.com | 2015 | Berlin, Germany | $413.2M | 132 | Tech-enabled platform matches shippers and carriers for trucking loads. | |
| dbschenker.com | 1872 | Essen, Germany | 336,889 | Provider of integrated freight forwarding, logistics and supply chain management services |
Detailed competitors of Forto
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
- Full competitor set
- Operating metrics
- Benchmarks
- Competitive positioning
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Web traffic of Forto
The website of Forto (forto.com) receives about 38.3K visits a month and ranks #896,335 among all websites worldwide, #4,184 in Shipping and Logistics.
- Monthly visits38.3K
▲ 20.5% vs previous month
- Unique visitors13.4K
per month
- Global rank#896,335
among all websites
- Category rank#4,184
Business and Consumer Services · Shipping and Logistics
- Bounce rate37%
- Pages per visit2.1
- Average visit25 sec
- DevicesDesktop 37% · Mobile 63%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Forto. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dvz.de | 100% | #827,509 | View details | ||
trans.info | trans.info | 84% | #156,025 | – | |
| ti-insight.com | 79% | 680.7K | #1,220,302 | View details | |
| via-id.com | 54% | #3,311,194 | View details |
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Related news about Forto
Complete news archive for Forto
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Frequently Asked Questions about Forto
Forto was founded in 2016.
Forto is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It is registered at Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Forto is a funded company, having raised a total of $610M across 8 funding rounds to date.
Forto has 482 employees.
Forto is established as a digital freight forwarder providing fast, efficient, and sustainable transport solutions. Services are offered across sea, air, and rail freight, catering to various shipment volumes and distances. Advanced technology, including AI-powered operations and a proprietary platform, is utilized to manage shipments and ensure high data quality. Sustainability initiatives, such as biofuel options and ocean plastic prevention, are integrated into the offerings. The company operates globally with a network covering over 100 countries and maintains 15 offices in 7 countries to support international logistics needs.
Forto's top competitors include sennder and DB Schenker.
Forto offers Sea Freight, Air Freight, Rail Freight, Forto Platform, and Sustainable Transportation.
Forto has 27 investors. Key investors include Maersk, Unbound, Rocket Internet, Axon Partners Group, and European Investment Bank.
The valuation of Forto is $2.1B as of Mar 2022.
Forto operates through Forto Logistics Se & Co. Kg.