Forward Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORD) on Monday announced that it has secured $1.65 billion in cash and stablecoin commitments through a private investment in public equity led by Galaxy Digital (NASDAQ:GLXY), Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital to fund a Solana (CRYPTO: SOL)-focused digital asset treasury strategy.
The private placement marks the largest Solana-focused digital asset treasury company raise to date.
Existing shareholder C/M Capital Partners also participated in the transaction.
CEO Michael Pruitt said the strategy reflects conviction in Solana's long-term growth.
"Our strategy to build an active Solana treasury program underscores our conviction in the long-term potential of SOL and our commitment to building shareholder value by directly participating in its growth," he noted.
Upon closing of the PIPE, Kyle Samani, co-founder and managing partner of Multicoin Capital, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors.
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Samani, an early Solana backer, said, "Solana is still widely misunderstood and discounted by market participants, despite the fact that it has been resilient through adversarial cycles and continues to be one of the most performant general-purpose blockchains. I believe this asymmetry creates tremendous opportunity for a Solana treasury strategy."
Forward Industries will also benefit from board-level guidance by Chris Ferraro, president and CIO of Galaxy, and Saurabh Sharma, CIO at Jump Crypto, who are expected to join as board observers.
Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy, said: "We believe that under their guidance, Forward Industries will quickly separate itself as the leading publicly traded company within the Solana ecosystem."
Sharma added that Forward's treasury approach would leverage Solana's high-performance DeFi ecosystem to "provide investors with access to differentiated on-chain return sources that go far beyond traditional staking."
Advisors on the transaction include Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. as lead placement agent, Galaxy Investment Banking as co-placement agent and financial advisor, and legal advisors Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP for Galaxy and DLA Piper LLP for Cantor Fitzgerald.
Forward Industries expects to provide further updates on its PIPE financing and Solana treasury activities in the near term.
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