Forward Industries Stock Soars Following $1.65 Billion Solana Treasury Pivot

Forward Industries unveiled a $1.65 billion private placement in public equity, or PIPE, to anchor its Solana treasury strategy on Monday, according to a press release.

The firm, which was previously dedicated to designing products for medical and technology firms, is expected to be led by Multicoin Capital co-founder and managing partner Kyle Samani, who will serve as chair of Forward Industries board once the PIPE closes, the company said.

Multicoin was established as an investment firm in 2017, and the company has been investing in Solana’s ecosystem since the asset’s seed round in May 2018. The firm will also receive strategic support from institutional crypto firms Galaxy Digital and Jump Crypto.

Forward Industries (FORD) stock price soared 92% during pre-market trading to $31.50 on Monday, according to Yahoo Finance. It changed hands around $28.61 an hour after markets opened, showing a 75% increase on the day, but has been falling since. FORD is currently priced at $22.95, up about 40% on the day.

If Forward plowed the entirety of its PIPE proceeds into Solana, it would rank among some of the largest treasury firms that are dedicated to Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

Three publicly traded firms hold more than $1.65 billion worth of Ethereum, according to Strategic Ethereum Reserve, while eight publicly traded firms hold more than $1.65 billion worth of Bitcoin, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.

Among Solana treasury firms, Forward would become the largest if it spent approximately a quarter of its PIPE proceeds on the digital asset. Solana treasury firm Upexi owned 2,000,518 Solana, as of August 4, according to a press release. DeFi Development Corp. owns 2,027,817 Solana, according to its website. That sum was worth $434 million on Monday, based on current prices.

Some little-known firms have abandoned their prior business models, such as selling stuffed animals, as they morph into proxies for cryptocurrency of choice. Forward will continue working on technology and medical products, a person familiar with the matter told Decrypt.

Forward said Galaxy will provide it with advisory and risk management services, as well as infrastructure for trading, lending, and staking. In April, Galaxy upped its exposure to the cryptocurrency, swapping $100 million in Ethereum for Solana.

Jump has been developing a new validator client for Solana called Firedancer. Its work began in 2022, and the company released a prototype version of the software last year.

Solana was changing hands around $214 on Monday, a 5.2% increase over the past day, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. The performance mirrored other altcoins, including XRP, which rose a similar amount to $3, over the same period.

Forward will join a handful of other Solana treasury firms, including SOL Strategies, Sharps Technology, DeFi Development Corp., and Upexi. In terms of PIPE financing, Upexi took a similar route to revamping itself that Forward is pursuing.

Upexi saw its share price plummet more than 60% earlier this year, moments after a registration-of-shares filing was deemed effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That was the first moment PIPE investors could sell their shares.