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- Forte
Forte Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Forte was acquired by Echelon Fitness in July 2025.
Forte acquisition price
Undisclosed
Acquired by Echelon Fitness · Jul 2025
Cumulative funding Forte raised
$921M
across 4 funding rounds
Key investors in Forte
Andreessen Horowitz
Griffin Gaming Partners
Tiger Global
Battery Ventures
Animoca Brands
Solana Ventures
Flucas Ventures
Warner Music Group
About Forte
Forte is a blockchain platform for gaming economies, enabling secure tokenization, NFT marketplaces, and compliant in-game transactions. San Francisco-headquartered, the company collaborates with developers from Unity, Riot Games, Electronic Arts, and Sony on community-driven reward systems. Forte processes payments and royalties across 25 partner studios globally.
Founded
2019
HQ
Website
Status
Acquired
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Licensing
Valuation
$1B (May 2021)
Forte Acquisition
Forte was acquired by Echelon Fitness for an undisclosed price on 21 July 2025.
Before the acquisition Forte had raised $921M across 4 funding rounds.
FORTË, founded in 2015, provides proprietary hardware and video software for gyms, boutique studios, influencers, and sports organizations to automate interactive livestreaming and deliver branded live and on-demand fitness content, serving over 457,000 users across 39 countries. Its clients include UFC GYM, Curves, Healthworks, Exhale Spa, 305 Fitness, Power + Flow, Housework, and Melt Method, with integrations into member management systems like ABC, Mindbody, Mariana Tek, and Daxko. Backed by investors including the LA Dodgers, Billie Jean King Enterprises, and Elysian Park, FORTË disrupted B2B fitness technology. Echelon Fitness, a Chattanooga-based leader in connected fitness equipment, AI personalization, telehealth via ActiveMD, recovery tools, and live coaching, acquired FORTË on July 21, 2025, rebranding it as ELEVATE by Echelon to expand into SaaS enterprises and commercial markets globally. The strategic rationale centers on combining Echelon's U.S.-based technology with FORTË's solutions to scale personalized, interactive fitness content, including embedding Echelon's AWS Gen AI-powered workout builder using Amazon Bedrock models into thousands of gyms for enhanced customization and retention, projecting a 7% uplift in trial studios. Deal terms remain undisclosed; advisors included SweatWorks founder Mo Iqbal and Stewart Miller. This acquisition positions Echelon to offer turnkey hybrid solutions—branded streaming, in-studio workouts, and AI coaching—amid fitness tech consolidation where connected equipment firms integrate enterprise streaming for competitive advantage in hybrid models.
| Acquirer | Date | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Jul 2025 | Strategic M&A |
Forte Valuation
Forte is currently valued at $1B, based on its Series A in May 2021.
The $185M round was led by Griffin Gaming Partners, with participation from Union Grove Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, Intersection Fintech Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Intersection Growth Partners and 1 other investor.
Forte valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| May 2021 | Series A | $1B |
Forte Funding History
Forte has raised a total of $921M across 4 funding rounds.
Forte's first fundraising round was a $10M seed round in March 2021. The most recent completed round was a $900K pre-seed round in November 2021.
Forte funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2021 | Pre-seed | - | $900K | - | - |
| Nov 2021 | Series B | Kora (lead); Samsung NEXT’s Q Fund; Griffin Gaming Partners; Solana Ventures; Animoca Brands; Cosmos Network; Overwolf; Andreessen Horowitz; California Technology Ventures; PLAYSTUDIOS; Tiger Global; Warner Music Group | $725M | - | Forte is a San Francisco-based blockchain gaming infrastructure startup that provides a platform for game developers to integrate blockchain technologies, including token wallets, NFT minting, payments, and digital asset management, enabling true player ownership of in-game goods. The company raised $725M in a Series B funding round on November 12, 2021, led by Kora (Kora Management), with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Animoca Brands, Cosmos, Griffin Gaming Partners, Overwolf, PLAYSTUDIOS, Solana Ventures, Tiger Global Management, Warner Music Group, and others. This followed a $185M Series A in May 2021 led by Griffin Gaming Partners, bringing total 2021 funding to over $900M. At the time, Forte's platform was invite-only in private testing with over 40 game developer partners and 15M+ players across partner games. |
| May 2021 | Series A | Griffin Gaming Partners (lead); Union Grove Venture Partners; Battery Ventures; Intersection Fintech Ventures; Andreessen Horowitz; Intersection Growth Partners; Unbound Ventures | $185M | $1B | Forte is a blockchain-based economic platform for video games that enables developers to create fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and build scalable token-based game economies. The company raised $185 million in a Series A funding round on May 20, 2021, led by Griffin Gaming Partners, with participation from Union Grove Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, and Canaan, achieving a $1 billion post-money valuation. At the time, Forte's platform was already in use by over 25 game developers and 8 million players, operating in invite-only private testing. The funding was intended to accelerate development of Forte's end-to-end blockchain platform, positioning it as infrastructure for integrating blockchain technologies like NFTs and payment rails into games. Griffin Gaming Partners highlighted Forte's unique technology, go-to-market strategy, and expertise in both gaming and blockchain as differentiators in the emerging blockchain gaming space. The round occurred amid rising interest in blockchain gaming, following similar unicorn valuations like Animoca Brands. Post-Series A, Forte continued expanding partnerships, including collaborations with studios like Gallium Studios co-founded by Sims designer Will Wright, and later initiatives such as a $150 million Web3 gaming fund with Solana Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners in December 2021. The platform supported over 5,000 NFTs, including in-game items and fractional ownership in gaming guilds, with a network reaching around 8 million players across popular games. Forte expressed a long-term vision of decentralizing its platform akin to internet infrastructure. |
| Mar 2021 | Seed | SeventySix Capital (lead); Flucas Ventures; Golden Seeds Venture Fund | $10M | - | Forte is a blockchain gaming platform backed by investors including Flucas Ventures, Golden Seeds Venture Fund, and SeventySix Capital in an unattributed VC or Seed VC round around early 2021. SeventySix Capital participated as one of 18 investors across Forte's funding rounds. Forte raised a total of $910 million across multiple rounds, with a Series A in May 2021 raising $185 million led by Griffin Gaming Partners at a $1 billion valuation to support growth in blockchain gaming. A later Series B in November 2021 raised $725 million led by Kora and Sea Capital. These funds aimed to expand services, onboard game publishers, and prepare developers for blockchain gaming. |
Who has invested in Forte?
20 investors have backed Forte across its funding rounds, including Andreessen Horowitz, Griffin Gaming Partners, Tiger Global, Battery Ventures, Animoca Brands and Solana Ventures.
Lead investors include Kora, Griffin Gaming Partners and SeventySix Capital.
Forte Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Lead | May 2021 | ||
| 2 | Participant | May 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Nov 2021 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Nov 2021 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Mar 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | May 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Nov 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | May 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Nov 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | May 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Nov 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Nov 2021 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Mar 2021 | ||
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Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Forte
Forte has acquired 3 companies to date.
Last acquisition by Forte was on February 27th 2025. Forte acquired Sealance Corp. for undisclosed valuation.
Latest Acquisitions by Forte
| Description | Sealance Corp. is a blockchain platform leveraging zero-knowledge proofs for privacy-preserving transactions in cryptocurrency applications. The network uses mathematical cryptography to verify identities, ensure policy compliance, and maintain transaction integrity without revealing sensitive data. Developers build decentralized applications on its infrastructure for secure finance, supply chain, and identity management. Based in the United States, Sealance focuses on scalability through layer-one architecture compatible with Ethereum virtual machines. | Phoenix Labs is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based independent game studio founded in 2014, developing multiplayer online games like Dauntless for PC, consoles, and mobile. Acquired by Electronic Arts in 2021, the studio employs over 300 staff creating shared-world experiences with persistent progression. | N3TWORK is a San Francisco-headquartered mobile gaming firm founded in 2013 that develops, publishes, and scales titles using proprietary technology. It supports developers with user acquisition, ad monetization, data analytics, product management, and lifecycle marketing services through its network of experts at www.n3twork.com. |
| HQ Country | |||
| HQ City | Miami, FL | Vancouver | San Francisco, CA |
| Deal Date | 27 Feb 2025 | 1 Jan 2023 | 13 Jan 2022 |
| Valuation | undisclosed | undisclosed | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | |||
| EV/EBITDA | |||
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Forte Competitors
Forte competitors include listed companies like HashKey Holdings and OSL Group, and private ones like Mocaverse, Mythical Games, Doodles and Andalusia Labs.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | - | - | $1B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $704M | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $92M | ($109M) | $884M | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $62M | ($48M) | $1.2B | 11.3x |
Forte Public Comps
Forte is no longer listed, but its public comps include Xun You Network, Ubisoft, HashKey Holdings, Playtika, GungHo Online, DoubleUGames, BitGo Holdings, OSL Group, NHN Entertainment and Kakao Games.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $43M | $4M | 21.0x | - | 214.7x | - | |||
| $1.6B | $302M | 0.8x | 0.8x | 4.4x | 4.5x | |||
| $92M | ($109M) | 6.4x | - | (5.4x) | - | |||
| $2.8B | $180M | 1.1x | 1.1x | 16.4x | 3.9x | |||
| $599M | $37M | 0.3x | 0.3x | 5.5x | 4.0x | |||
| $524M | $170M | 0.9x | 0.9x | 2.9x | 2.4x | |||
| $16B | ($9M) | 0.1x | 5.5x | (125.1x) | 125.4x | |||
| $62M | ($48M) | 16.6x | 11.3x | (21.7x) | (23.2x) | |||
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Common questions about Forte
| When was Forte founded? | Forte was founded in 2019. |
| Where is Forte headquartered? | Forte is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States. |
| Is Forte publicly listed? | No, Forte was acquired by Echelon Fitness in July 2025. |
| Who acquired Forte? | Forte was acquired by Echelon Fitness in July 2025. |
| What is Forte's valuation? | Forte was last valued at $1B in its Series A in May 2021. |
| How much funding has Forte raised? | Forte has raised $921M across 4 funding rounds. |
| What was Forte's last funding round? | Forte's last funding round was a $900K pre-seed round in November 2021. |
| Who are Forte's investors? | Forte's investors include Griffin Gaming Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Samsung NEXT’s Q Fund, Kora, SeventySix Capital, Union Grove Venture Partners, Solana Ventures, Battery Ventures, Animoca Brands, Intersection Fintech Ventures and 10 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to Forte? | Companies comparable to Forte include Mocaverse, Mythical Games, Doodles, Andalusia Labs, HashKey Holdings and OSL Group. |
| How many companies has Forte acquired? | Forte has acquired 3 companies, including Sealance Corp., Phoenix Labs and N3TWORK. |
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