[1] Forward Networks was founded by David Erickson, Nikhil Handigol, Brandon Heller, and Peyman Kazemian, who met as Ph.D researchers at Stanford University.

While operating software-defined networking deployments running OpenFlow[2] at the university,[3] Erickson, Handigol, Heller, and Kazemian built a software platform based on Kazemian's research at Stanford for his electrical engineering dissertation.

[5] Until November 2016, the company operated in stealth mode[6] and raised $16 million in funding by DFJ,[7] with participation from Andreesen Horowitz.

[9] In January 2023, following 139% year-over-year growth, Forward Networks announced it closed $50M in Series D funding.

[citation needed] Forward Networks' other customers include PayPal, Ubisoft, and Telstra.