Key industry leaders will join Forward Industries’ board and advisory positions following the PIPE financing.
Forward Industries announced today a $1.65 billion private investment in public equity (PIPE) offering led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital to launch a Solana-focused digital asset treasury strategy.
The announcement follows an earlier report that the three companies plan to raise $1 billion to acquire Solana tokens. The initiative reflects a growing trend of building crypto treasuries around major crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
The Galaxy-backed reserve could become the largest Solana-focused treasury, surpassing peers such as Upexi. The deal, backed by the Solana Foundation, is expected to close in early September.
Kyle Samani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Multicoin Capital, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors upon PIPE’s closing. Chris Ferraro, President and Chief Investment Officer of Galaxy, and Saurabh Sharma, Chief Investment Officer at Jump Crypto, will join as Board observers.
“Solana has emerged as one of the most innovative and widely adopted blockchain ecosystems in the world. 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,” said Forward Industries CEO Michael Pruitt.
“I have been one of the earliest and loudest champions of Solana since Multicoin first led the seed round back in 2018,” said Samani. “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.”
Mike Novogratz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy, said:
“Kyle, Chris, and Saurabh are three of the most established names within the broader digital asset ecosystem. We believe that under their guidance, Forward Industries will quickly separate itself as the leading publicly-traded company within the Solana ecosystem.”
Cantor Fitzgerald will serve as the lead placement agent, with Galaxy Investment Banking acting as co-placement agent and financial advisor. Forward Industries anticipates releasing additional updates regarding its PIPE financing and treasury activities in the near future.
