Stripe leads $20m funding round for US start-up Fast

Stripe, the payments company founded by Limerick-born brothers Patrick and John Collison, has led a $20 million ((€18.2 million) funding round for Fast, a San Francisco-headquartered start-up.

Fast, which was founded last year by entrepreneur Domm Holland and Alison Barr Allen, previously head of global product operations at Uber. The start-up has developed a platform that allows users to make quick online transactions without using passwords.

The company is shortly to roll out Fast Checkout, a solution that allows consumers to complete purchases with a single click on any browser, platform or device. According to the start-up, its solutions help retailers overcome issues with shopping cart abandonment, which typically happens due to frustrations experienced trying to pay for goods and services.

Fast, which secured $2.5 million in a seed round led by Index Ventures and Susa Ventures late last year, intends to use the additional financing to speed up the global rollout of Fast Checkout, and to expand its product and engineering teams.

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“This funding rapidly accelerates Fast’s ability to improve the checkout process for billions of people and businesses around the world,” said Mr Holland, the company’s chief executive.

“Now, more than ever, we need to dramatically improve the e-commerce checkout experience, which has remained stagnant for 30 years. We have an even greater commitment to fulfilling our mission of making buying online fast, easy and safe for everyone,” he added.

"Fast is taking a novel approach to improving the login and checkout process for online businesses," said Jordan Angelos, head of corporate development at Stripe. "We support their vision to remove friction from internet commerce wherever possible."

Active investor

Stripe has been an active investor in recent years. The company has also invested in fintechs such as Monzo and Paystack, and has made a small number of acquisitions, the latest of which was a deal for Irish start-up Touchtech Payments.

Stripe, which was founded in 2010, is valued at $35.3 billion, having raised $1.3 billion across seven funding rounds. It employs over 2,000 people, including about 300 in Ireland.

The company handles hundreds of billions of dollars in transactions each year and counts the likes of Amazon, Uber, Booking. com, Deliveroo and Google among its customers.