Forto

Overview
Forto is a Berlin-headquartered digital freight forwarder that combines a proprietary shipment-management platform with a licensed forwarding operation, moving containers and cargo between Asia and Europe (with a strong Germany-China corridor focus) by ocean, rail, and air. Founded in 2016 as FreightHub and rebranded to Forto in 2020, the company reached unicorn status in June 2021 and peaked at a reported $2.1 billion valuation in March 2022. It is one of the highest-profile companies in Germany's LogisticsTech cohort, and now serves as a live case study for the post-2022 rerating of European growth-stage tech.

Why this entity matters
Forto matters to the DACH ecosystem for three overlapping reasons. First, it is one of the flagship examples of German LogisticsTech, alongside Sennder and Container xChange, that attempted to digitise a decades-old brokerage business dominated by DB Schenker, Kuehne+Nagel, DHL, and DSV. Second, its trajectory, from rapid ZIRP-era funding to a reported $2.1B valuation, through three subsequent waves of layoffs, a founder-to-chairman transition, and a stated pivot toward AI productisation via FortoLabs, is a compressed illustration of what many 2020-2021 unicorns are working through. Third, its Germany-China corridor exposure makes it a live signal on European trade sentiment: freight volumes, sea-air rate normalisation, and the geopolitics of Eurasian rail all show up in its numbers before they show up in macro dashboards.

Company history and product
The company was founded on 1 July 2016 in Berlin by Michael Wax, Ferry Heilemann, Fabian Heilemann, and Erik Muttersbach. Ferry and Fabian Heilemann had previously exited DailyDeal to Google; Wax and Muttersbach brought commercial and engineering depth. The founding thesis was that SMEs booking container freight between Germany and Asia were still transacting by fax, email, and spreadsheet, and that a full-stack digital forwarder could win share by owning the customer experience while operating as a licensed forwarder rather than a marketplace layer. The company operated as FreightHub until a February 2020 rebrand to Forto reflecting broader product scope. Product coverage now includes Full Container Load (FCL) and Less-than-Container Load (LCL) ocean freight, air freight, China-Europe rail freight through Eurasian corridors (Xi'an, Chongqing, and Chengdu into Duisburg and Warsaw), customs brokerage, cargo insurance, and warehousing. Revenue is primarily transaction-based, with the fee-attach layer around customs and insurance carrying meaningful margin.

Funding history, as reported by TechCrunch and Forto's own press releases: the company closed a $240 million round in June 2021 led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a reported $1.2 billion post-money valuation (labelled Series C by several outlets), followed by a $250 million pre-emptive Series D in March 2022 led by Disruptive, with participation from SoftBank Vision Fund 2, G Squared, Northzone, Unbound, and A.P. Moeller Holding, at a reported $2.1 billion valuation. Earlier backers include Cherry Ventures, Northzone, Inven Capital, Rider Global, Citi Ventures, and H14. Total capital raised is reported at roughly $610 million.

From 2022 the operating picture tightened as ocean rates normalised post-COVID. Coverage from The Loadstar, Handelsblatt, Sifted, and Deutsche Startups tracks at least three subsequent waves of workforce reductions. As reported by The Loadstar, Forto laid off roughly 90 employees in January 2023 as freight rates collapsed, closed its Bremen and Madrid offices in October 2023 with an additional ~75 cuts, and executed a further reduction of approximately 200 roles, around one-third of remaining staff, in April 2025, weighted toward sales. Company statements framed the 2025 action as sharpening commercial priorities and driving operational excellence through AI. In February 2025 co-founder and CEO Michael Wax stepped into the Chairman role and former CFO Guillaume Petit-Perrin became CEO. Reported headcount is approximately 500 at time of writing, versus a 2022 peak variously reported around 800 to 1,000.

Role in the DACH startup and technology ecosystem
Within the DACH LogisticsTech cluster, Forto sits alongside road-freight peer Sennder (Berlin) and Container xChange (Hamburg), all of which grew rapidly during the 2020-2022 supply-chain window and are now reshaping cost structures. Forto's April 2025 pivot toward FortoLabs, a SaaS-productised layer offering internally built AI (document processing, agent workflows) to other forwarders, carriers, and customs agents, is being watched as a template for how a full-stack operator can extract value from platform investments without depending solely on freight cycle timing. Berlin remains the operational and headquarters base, with earlier European and Asian offices consolidated over 2023-2025.

Selected relationships and affiliations
Lead and notable investors: SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Disruptive, Northzone, Cherry Ventures, Inven Capital, G Squared, Unbound, A.P. Moeller Holding, Citi Ventures, H14, Rider Global. Founders: Michael Wax (co-founder, Chairman), Ferry Heilemann (co-founder), Fabian Heilemann (co-founder), Erik Muttersbach (co-founder). Executive leadership 2025-2026: Guillaume Petit-Perrin (CEO). Comparable and adjacent companies in the DACH ecosystem include Sennder, Container xChange, InstaFreight, and fintech infrastructure vendors serving cross-border trade.

Startuprad.io relevance
Forto has appeared in Startuprad.io's DACH Unicorn Tracker coverage and monthly DACH news wrap-ups as a recurring example of a former-ZIRP unicorn recalibrating toward profitability, and it is a natural anchor for briefings on European LogisticsTech, Germany-China trade, and the operator playbook for post-2022 restructuring. The company is a relevant reference point for interviews with LogisticsTech founders, VC discussions on supply-chain software, and quarterly reviews of DACH unicorn health.

Public source context
This profile is drawn from public sources including Forto press releases, TechCrunch, Tech.eu, FreightWaves, The Loadstar, Sifted, Handelsblatt, Silicon Canals, Crunchbase, Dealroom, Tracxn, and Startuprad.io coverage. Time-sensitive figures, including headcount, valuation, and total capital raised, are reported as of publication and should be re-verified against primary filings before commercial use.

Startuprad.io coverage of Forto

Forto appears in the following Startuprad.io interviews, news and analysis.

The Ultimate 2025 DACH Unicorn Startups Tracker by Startuprad.io
Published: 20 June 2025
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/the-ultimate-2025-guide-to-dach-unicorns-startuprad-io-tracker

This Month in DACH Startups: April 2025 Startup News Wrap-Up
Published: 1 May 2025
Last updated: 27 August 2026
Coverage type: News
https://www.startuprad.io/post/this-month-in-dach-startups-april-2025-startup-news-wrap-up

DACH Unicorn Tracker 2025: Trends, Funding, and Opportunities | Startuprad.io
Published: 18 April 2025
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/dach-unicorn-tracker-2025-trends-funding-and-opportunities-startuprad-io

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Canonical record: https://www.startuprad.io/entities/forto