Forward Industries, a global design company, has successfully closed a $1.65 billion private placement to establish the market’s largest corporate treasury focused on Solana .
The move signals a major strategic shift for the Nasdaq-listed firm, positioning it as a key institutional player within the Solana ecosystem.
According to the official announcement on Sept. 11, the financing round attracted backing from a broad mix of investment firms. This deal follows earlier reports about investors preparing a Solana treasury.
The announcement confirmed that lead investors included Galaxy Digital, which has strong ties to the Solana ecosystem, along with Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital.
Forward Industries plans to use the net proceeds primarily to purchase SOL for its balance sheet. This approach mirrors the well-known MicroStrategy tactic, which has accumulated a large treasury of Bitcoin .
The company aims to leverage its treasury through active management and innovative strategies.
Concurrent with the deal, the company’s board has been restructured to reflect its new focus. Kyle Samani, co-founder of Multicoin Capital, was appointed Chairman of the Board.
Representatives from Galaxy, which previously announced a stock tokenization initiative on Solana, and Jump Crypto will join as board observers.
The decision to focus on Solana is backed by the network’s strong performance metrics. In the second quarter of 2025, Solana processed nearly 9 billion transactions and attracted over 7,500 new developers in 2024 alone.
The ecosystem’s growth presents opportunities for on-chain returns through activities like staking and lending.
This strategic pivot was well-received by the market. The move adds to a trend of large institutional investments in the ecosystem, such as Pantera’s recent major SOL bet, reflecting broader investor confidence as Forward Industries’ stock (FORD) saw a significant increase in pre-market trading, highlighting growing interest from global institutional investors.
