It looks like Stripe recently led series A funding for Fast which is designing a 1 click checkout experience where you’ll have one login for every site using Fast. Why would Stripe invest in this company? For it to succeed, doesn’t it have to become a direct competitor of Stripe. Right now, I’m reading that payments will be processed by Stripe but then how will Fast make money? I can’t imagine Stripe would want to share too much of the margins they get from payment processing... #stripe
2 cents: 1. They invest so they can compete with PayPal instant checkout and other companies trying to make a one click pay experience. Stripe could do this themselves, but it’s expensive to build consumer awareness (Stripe’s well known in business circles, not so much to consumers). If Fast succeeds, Stripe profits due to their stake and if it fails all they’ve lost is the initial capital. Fast is not a direct competitor to Stripe as it’s not doing processing (Stripe’s core business, where the margins are thin and sustainable revenue is hard unless you’re already at Stripe scale- which is their moat). 2. Fast can make money by proving through data that they’re boosting conversion and hence revenue for e-commerce sites that embed them- and take a cut from the incremental revenue brought in.
Are you working in Fast?