Fab.com
- 🦄Became a unicorn2013
- 📈Peak valuation$1 Billion ’13
- 💔Became a Unitard2014
- 💸Last valuation~$20M
The rise & fall
5 moments · 2011–2015The key moments.
How it happened
Fab.com launched in 2011 as a flash-sale site for design goods and quickly became one of the hottest e-commerce startups of its era, raising about $335M — including a round at a $1B valuation in 2013 — under founder Jason Goldberg.
But it burned roughly $12M a month, chased growth through costly pivots and international expansion, and never found a sustainable model. By 2015, after deep layoffs, Fab was sold to Irish manufacturer PCH International in a fire sale worth only about $15M, a near-total wipeout for its backers and a defining cautionary tale of the early-2010s startup boom.
Source: TechCrunch / SiliconANGLE / GeekWire ($165M round at ~$1B valuation 2013, raised ~$335M total; burned ~$12M/month; sold to PCH International ~$15M, March 2015)
Founders
- Jason GoldbergCo-founder & CEO who led Fab.com to its $1B+ valuation and through its 2015 fire saleNo public profile matched
- Bradford Shellhammerco-founder & chief design officer (left 2013)
Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-19. See our methodology.
