The company apparently expected to raise $3.5 million in February, but the investment group ended up backing out. It found another investor willing to sink $6.75 million into the venture, but it backed out at the last minute. Plastc says it needed the money to start its cards' production -- with no funds to keep it going, it had to quickly shut down everything and let all its employees go. It's not entirely clear why $9 million wasn't enough to ship even one wave of cards to its very first customers.

Now customers are bombarding the company with requests for a refund. They paid for pre-orders, after all, and didn't back a crowdfunding campaign that they knew could fall through. With no money left to Plastc's name, though, they might have to chalk it up to experience. Plastc isn't the only smart card that failed to deliver on its promise. Another one called Coin also stopped making cards in 2016, though it was at least able to ship some orders. Swyp was plagued with issues, as well, while Stratos almost shut down until it found a new owner.