A brief history of Fab, from mega-hype to crash and burn

Today e-commerce site Fab.com sold to PCH International, an Irish company that works with startups to create and manufacture products.

To honor this once hot startup, we’ve put together a timeline of events starting with Fab’s entry into the market, to its fiery combustion and sale to PCH. The company raised a total of $335 million before selling out.

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• Pre-Fab 2009-2011: Prior to the Fab we know today, the company was known as Fabulis, a gay social networking site that featured daily deals. A year in and a million dollars in seed funding later, the company realized that the site wasn’t gaining enough traction. That’s when co-founders Jason Goldberg and Bradford Shellhammer decided to pivot and launch Fab.
• June 9, 2011: Fab.com launches as a design-centric e-commerce site built around flash sales.
• July 26, 2011: The company lands an $8 million series A round of funding and reaches 400,000 users. Fab reports that its site is already profitable.
• September 14, 2011: Fab rolls out Pop-up Shops, online stores within its site that only last for 30 days.
• October 11, 2011: The design store reaches 750,000 users and launches mobile apps on both iOS and Android.
• December 8, 2011: Six months after launching, Fab lands $40 million in series B funding, cementing its place as a hot startup with 1.2 million subscribers.
• February 20, 2012: Fab acquires German startup Casacanda, a membership-based shopping club for design pieces. Fab immediately expands to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
• May 16, 2012: Founder Jason Goldberg tries to recreate the experience of shopping with friends online through a redesign of Fab’s site.
• June 18, 2012: Fab raises a crazy $105 million in a third round of funding.
• June 19, 2012: The following day, Fab snaps up British flash-sale site Llustre in an acquisition.
• November 1, 2012: Another $15 million in the bank.
• November 7, 2012: Fab expands to India with purchase of TrueSparrowSystems.
• November 30, 2012: On Cyber Monday, Fab racks up $1.3 million in sales — a record for the company.
• April 30, 2013: Pivot! Fab switches focus away from flash sales and towards developing its own line of goods and opening its own retail shop.
• June 19, 2013: Just after its second birthday, Fab raises $150 million.
• July 13, 2013: Fab takes in another $10 million in funding from SingTel Innov8.
• July 30, 2013: The beginning of the end? Fab lays off 100 employees in Berlin.
• August 12, 2013: In hopes of expanding to Japan, Fab extends its D round of funding one more time so Japan’s Itochu Corporation can throw another $5 million in the ring.
• October 3, 2013: Fab lays off another 101 employees — nearly a fifth of its workforce.
• November 1, 2013: Co-founder Bradford Shellhammer leaves the company, saying in a blog post, “I want to make other things in this world. And Fab is at a point in its history where I’ve decided to walk away from the day to day.”
• August 6, 2014: Fab starts entertaining potential suitors. CEO Jason Goldberg says the company has many offers, but he’s not shopping Fab around.
• February 3, 2015: Fab sells to PCH for an undisclosed amount, though it may have sold for $7 million in cash and $8 million in stock, according to a report from Re/code. Founder Jason Goldberg will not follow the company to PCH and instead will man the helm at his other company, Hem.

What do you think of the deal? Let us know in the comments below!