Fintech ‘Plastc’ Shuts Down After Cancelling All 80,000 Pre Orders

The fintech startup out of the US had promised one plastic smart card that can integrate all your credit, debit and gift cards with Bluetooth connectivity, a built-in touchscreen and a few more awe inspiring Jetsons kind of features like remote access to the card.

Plastc had raised around 9 million dollars in around 80,000 pre-order sales promising a plastic supercard that can unite all cards in one. Plastc went public with the announcement that they have now let go of all employees, which means their social media handles, customer support lines are all unmanned (so frustrated customers can’t make any angry calls either).

After being unable to raise further investment needed to go into manufacturing, the company put up a statement on its website, “Plastc, Inc. is exploring options to file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and will cease operations on April 20, 2017.”

The single page farewell letter the company website has been reduced to says, “For the past 3 years, our mission here at Plastc was to build and deliver the most technically ambitious smart card on the planet. After making enormous leaps in development, product innovation and progress towards our goal, Plastc has exhausted all of its options to raise the money it needs to continue.”

Going into the specifics of how the business unravelled the letter says, “We were expecting to close a $3.5 million Series A funding round on February 28, 2017. There are functioning Plastc Cards, which were demonstrated to our investors and our backers, and the capital was to be allocated for the mass production and shipping of Plastc Cards to pre-order customers. At first, the principal investment group postponed their investment and a couple of weeks later the round fell apart.

After the initial funding was unavailable, Plastc made progress with another investor who offered $6.75 million. This deal was scheduled to close last week and would propel development across the finish line, as well as allow for Plastc Card preorders to be shipped and for production to continue into a retail phase.”

And their heartfelt disappointment as Team Plastc accepts that some Jetsons kind of dreams just cannot be made true: “We are disappointed and emotionally distraught, and while we know this is extremely disappointing for you, we want our backers to know that we did everything we could to make Plastc Card a reality.”