Aahana Swrup
In ‘Industry’ season 2, Jesse Bloom, a superstar hedge fund manager, becomes one of the key clients responsible for the fates of Harper Stern and Pierpoint & Co.’s London office in the finance world. As such, in the aftermath of a fraught merger that threatens to dissolve Eric Tao and his entire CPS desk at the firm, Jesse and his investments in the healthcare game retain intense significance. However, after he puts his weight behind the Rican Healthcare company at Harper’s suggestion, he finds himself in a stand-off against a rival company, FastAide. Consequently, they remain at the narrative’s forefront through Harper and Jesse’s constant circling of the two companies. Yet, when it comes to their standings as pieces within the healthcare sector, does either FastAide or Rican have any roots in reality?
FastAide and Rican Healthcare are Fictional Companies
Throughout ‘Industry,’ several companies across various sectors orbit the narrative as assets on the trading floor for the characters’ clients to invest in. Nonetheless, even though the show strives to showcase a realistic if cinematically dramatized, account of young bankers and traders, their storylines remain fictionalized. For the same reason, most companies and clients—especially heavily featured ones—are rendered similarly fictitious in service of the plot. Thus, Rican Healthcare and FastAide, the most prominent companies in season 2, with separate roles to play in Jesse’s storyline, possess fictional origins and lack a basis in real life.
FastAide and Rican are both healthcare companies competing for the top slot in Britain’s healthcare system. While FastAide is a brick-and-mortar entity with a nostalgic history and market fluctuations backing its significance, Rican is a newer endeavor with a lot of potential for growth. After Eric bungles a deal with his longtime client, Felim, weighing his desk down with Rican shares, Harper swoops in at the last second and saves the day by selling those shares to Jesse. Even though this play marks the return of Harper’s groove, it also jumpstarts a more complicated overarching storyline between her and Jesse.
Although Harper advises Jesse to buy more shares and dig his heels into the company, the decision proves to be problematic after Fast Aide’s short goes south for its competitors. Therefore, the analyst finds herself thrown into a precarious standing with Jesse, with their entire professional relationship relying upon the battle industry battle between FastAide and Rican Healthcare. As such, both companies retain incredible significance in the narrative and are responsible for dictating the future of one of the protagonists. Furthermore, they also showcase how the slightest change in the market can prove to be a career-defining win or faux pas for traders like Harper. Thus, despite their fictional origins, both end up enhancing the show’s depiction of trading’s volatile reality.
FastAide Often Emulates Reality
Out of FastAide and Rican Healthcare, the latter company plays a considerably more instrumental role within the narrative. Still, in many ways, FastAide ends up referencing real life in ways that allow the storyline to stay connected to reality. For one, the company’s entire standing within the narrative stems from its startling ability to survive a short squeeze in a way that remains reminiscent of GameStop, Blackberry, and other companies’ memorable stock market stories from 2021 and 2022. As such, the show strengthens its grounded disposition by referencing this real-life instance—a crucial touchstone in the finance world.
On the other hand, FastAide’s other defining feature originates from Amazon’s apparent interest in the company’s investment, which solidifies its power as Rican Healthcare’s competition and an inevitable thorn in Jesse’s side. Although there isn’t an actual FastAide company that Amazon has invested in real life, the multi-billion dollar company saw notable growth in its healthcare model through One Medical and Amazon Clinic in the past few years. Thus, attaching a recognizable name to the fictionalized company allows ‘Industry’ to further legitimize the storyline’s sense of realism.
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