Forward Industries: Understanding the new biggest SOL treasury company

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Forward Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORD) has been around for over 60 years as a global design company serving the medical and technology industries. But in September 2025, it made a strategic pivot that put it on the crypto map: it raised $1.65 billion in a private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing and used most of that capital to buy Solana (SOL).

The company, which is now an entity on Arkham, has verifiable on-chain holdings of SOL worth (at the time of writing) $1.69 billion. It holds 6.78 million SOL.

This move turned Forward Industries into the world’s largest SOL treasury company. 

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A few days after Forward Industries made its SOL purchase, the company announced a $4 billion at-the-market equity offering program. It plans to use the proceeds to further pursue its Solana treasury strategy. 

Depending on the success of the equity offering, Forward Industries could become Solana’s version of Strategy and BitMine. 

How much SOL does Forward Industries hold?

Forward Industries announced that it acquired 6,822,000 SOL tokens at an average price of ~$232 per SOL, for a total of $1.58 billion.

Forward (NASDAQ: FORD) announced its acquisition of unrestricted Solana (SOL) tokens through a combination of open-market and direct on-chain transactions. Its entire SOL position has been staked. Forward's approach focuses on growing its SOL-per-share metric through active on-chain participation rather than a passive holding strategy.

What it means for Solana?

This move makes Forward Industries one of the most important players in the Solana ecosystem overnight. For investors, it provides a unique way to gain exposure to SOL via a traditional Nasdaq‑listed stock. For the crypto industry, it’s another step toward mainstream acceptance of digital assets as a legitimate part of corporate treasuries.

The scale of Forward’s holdings dwarfs that of other SOL treasury companies, putting it in a position to influence both the market narrative and the Solana ecosystem itself.

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The $1.65 Billion PIPE Deal

The capital raise was completed through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction. A PIPE is a type of financing where a publicly traded company sells shares (or other securities like convertible debt) privately to a select group of accredited investors.

The deal brought in some of the biggest names in crypto and institutional finance:

• Galaxy Digital – Mike Novogratz’s crypto merchant bank, known for its Bitcoin and Ethereum investments.

• Jump Crypto – a leading crypto market‑making and venture group with deep roots in trading and infrastructure.

• Multicoin Capital – one of the most prominent Solana‑focused venture firms, whose co‑founder Kyle Samani was appointed Chairman of the Board at Forward as part of the deal.

By structuring the financing as a PIPE, Forward could quickly deploy capital, avoiding the slower process of a public offering while still remaining compliant with Nasdaq listing rules.

According to Forward’s management, the PIPE proceeds were specifically earmarked for purchasing SOL, implementing staking operations, and building systems to manage the treasury in a transparent and on‑chain manner.

The $4 Billion ATM Program

In addition to the PIPE, Forward Industries has filed an automatic shelf registration statement with the U.S. SEC, enabling an at‑the‑market (ATM) equity offering of up to $4 billion in new shares. This is similar to one of the ways Strategy raises capital to purchase Bitcoin.

Chairman Kyle Samani called the program “a flexible and efficient mechanism to raise and methodically deploy capital in support of our Solana treasury strategy.”