PrettyDamnQuick (PDQ), a startup launched at the start of the decade, has acquired $25 million in Series A funding to develop the business and its brand further. To offer a trustworthy alternative to Amazon, PDQ earned additional capital to significantly close the e-commerce checkout market gap.
The Rise of PrettyDamnQuick
PDQ extends tech tools and resources to retailers, allowing them to personalize and assess checkout and shipping circulations. Five years after the New York-based company’s commencement in 2020, it secured a novel deal to develop the business. PeakSpan Capital spearheaded and supported the $25 million in Series A funding, with supplemental participation from PDQ’s current investors, Moneta and TLV Partners.
This achievement brings PDQ’s total financial backing to $38 million, signifying a significant step forward in its objective to redefine the eCommerce checkout experience. The company’s official opening occurred back in 2021, prioritizing the transformation of how online merchants optimize checkout efforts.
Since then, the PDQ platform has processed over $4 billion in yearly gross merchandise volume. These earnings help hundreds of direct-to-consumer businesses productively compete with industry titans like Amazon.
When the three tasks are seamlessly connected, order management, fulfillment, and delivery become an effortless experience at checkout. PDQ’s mid-sized merchant clients can now extend sophisticated eCommerce services akin to Amazon’s offerings.
The Importance of PDQ’s Growth
The pandemic led to many customers purchasing less than usual due to economic volatility and inflation. Many habitual online shoppers returned to traditional brick-and-mortar stores as shipping costs rose during quarantine. At a time when the eCommerce industry is attempting to re-establish dominance after the peak of COVID-19, PDQ’s fundraising efforts and subsequent growth prove that the demand isn’t dropping as significantly as consumers previously thought.
Following the most recent boom of holiday shopping practices, many online stores received intense days of heavy purchasing. PDQ hopes to benefit despite 2024’s online shopping projections not meeting expectations. By providing shoppers with better discounts while maintaining retailers’ preferred margins, the company could see some serious success throughout 2025.
The Problem PDQ Solves
Independent eCommerce merchants continue to struggle against major online retail giants like Amazon.
Moreover, most retailers aren’t exactly tech experts despite running a business on the web. As a result, many of these merchants outsource the more technical operations with the guidance of the Amazon marketplace.
In recent years, online platforms like Instagram, Temu, and TikTok have also offered third-party seller options.
However, PDQ wants to target eCommerce companies that would prefer to build their online presence independently without needing a massive internet marketplace. This desire for self-reliance stimulates the growth of businesses like Shopify and Stripe.
While well-established companies help merchants quickly build up their storefronts and manage transactions, PDQ aims to address a different area—managing and developing the broader checkout experience.
PDQ Behind the Scenes
Avi Moskowitz, the CEO and founder of PDQ, explained that he first brought the idea to the drawing board from his background when starting and running a craft brewing business. The company, BeerBazaar, opened in 2015, leveraging the assistance of Shopify without much knowledge of what chaos was to come in 2020.
The business received buzz more than ever during the pandemic, but it quickly became overwhelming rather than exciting or enjoyable.
Since then, the PDQ has developed personalization, optimization, and A/B testing tools to help manage online businesses like BeerBazaar. Currently, the platform can only collaborate with online shops created on Shopify. Still, the ultimate goal is to utilize some of the new funding to expand to websites outside that boundary.
PDQ’s Main Mission Moving Forward
As PDQ continues to grow, Moskowitz states that the company’s primary mission is to ensure “every shopper is able to experience the checkout that’s appropriate for them.” Alongside providing tools and resources that boost the checkout experience, PDQ hopes to help with tracking and protection after purchase.
Looking ahead, the company believes that platforms like Amazon remain the primary competition. With $38 million raised thus far, PDQ projects that it will process around 300 million orders by the end of 2025.
