Fast launched in 2019 with a vision: bring one-click checkout to the entire web, not just Amazon. The company raised $120M from Stripe, Index Ventures, and others. Its "Fast Checkout" product promised to boost e-commerce conversion rates by eliminating the friction of entering payment and shipping information. The company grew to over 400 employees.
Company Data
- Founded: 2019 — Domm Holland
- Total Funding: $120 million
- Failed: April 2022
Fast had two fatal problems. First, merchant adoption was slow—convincing e-commerce sites to integrate yet another checkout option was a hard sell, especially when Shopify, PayPal, and Stripe offered their own solutions. Second, consumers didn't see enough value to create yet another online account for "faster checkout." Revenue was near zero when the company had already spent most of its capital.
Key Lesson
A checkout button is a feature, not a company. Shopify Checkout, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay already solved this problem with massive existing user bases. Don't build a company around a feature incumbents can add in a sprint.