newly funded

This post covers new startups funded during Week 2 of 2018 (Jan 8th-14th).

Eighty eight (88) newly funded startups raised more than $647,041,138. The funding rounds was led by Blackfish, a Chinese  consumer finance platform, who raised $145M in Series A funding. Of the 88 startups, 62 of them chose to use a dot-com domain name; accounting for 70 % of companies on our list. Twenty two (22) startups chose to launch with a country code top level domain (ccTLD). And finally, we have one dot-net domain name; one dot-auto; one dot-investments; and one dot-ltd.

It was quite tough to find domain names to highlight. But, we’ll press on with RootCloud.com. Root Cloud is a Beijing-based cloud computing company, who may have only acquired the domain name two months ago. Although ‘root’ is not the first word one would think to combine with ‘cloud’, this domain works for the company as they seek to provide “tree root interconnection to empower industrial clouds.” Next up, we have FirstAgenda.com, belonging to a Danish-based company looking to end inefficient meetings by creating smarter meeting software. First Agenda definitely works well for a company providing meeting software as “first on the agenda” comes to mind immediately. Honestly, I’m not even sure that any software could end pointless meetings, but at least this company is trying to make the pointless meetings efficient.

Here is our list:

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This post covers new startups funded during Week 52 of 2017 (December 25th – 31st), and Week 1 of 2018 (January 1st -7th).

A whopping $2,173,997,144 in funding was raised by 102 startups on our list. Suning Finance,  one of the top leading financial groups in China, led the rounds by raising almost $827M in venture funding. Seventy four (74) of the 102 startups on this list chose to use a .com domain name, representing almost 72% of the list; a percentage greater than we’ve seen in past weeks. We have 1 .net and 1 .org domain each, while 24 startups chose a ccTLd. Two new gTLD domains also graced our list: 1 .events and 1 .tech.

First up, we’ll highlight the 20-year old one-word domain, Handful.com. Though not super premium, the domain is decent. Given the comparative prices of similar domains, I won’t be surprised if this company paid 4-5 figures to upgrade from their initial Handfulinc.com. The company, Handful, is an activewear company “that supports you grabbing life by the handful.” However, in my opinion, the correlation between the name ‘Handfu’l and activewear is a little blurred. Next up, we have Akiri.com. The name itself makes a really nice 5L brandable domain name. And, the company works on building trusted networks for health data.

Here is our list:

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Happy New Year! I didn’t post for the past two weeks as I went on vacation. The new year met my family and I on the sandy beaches of Aruba. We loved it! It’s a lovely place to visit. But, for this reason, this post will cover new startups funded during Week 51 of 2017 (December 18th – 24th).

More than 82 startups raised a sum greater than $551,659,726 in funding. The funding rounds was led by Niido, who raised $200M in venture funding. Niido by Airbnb is a brand of residential complexes that will be built as a result of a collaboration between Airbnb and a Florida-based development group. Of the 82 startups on today’s list, 54 of them chose to launch with a dot-com domain name, accounting for about 66%. Twenty (20) startups chose a ccTLd, while we have 1 dot-net, and 1 dot-org domain. As for new gTLDs, we have one domain each of the following: .bio, .care, .exchange, .marketing, .pro, and .solutions.

First up, we’ll highlight the 20-year old domain, EMQ.com. Wholesale, LLL.com domain names sell in the low to mid 5 figures; while retail they can go from mid 5 to low 6 figures. Although there is no recorded information about EMQ.com in Namebio.com, I won’t be surprised if the price paid for the domain fell somewhere in these ranges. EMQ is an app to make sending money internationally easier. Next up, we have ScaleFast.com. This verb-adjective combination makes a decent brandable. ScaleFast provides ecommerce solutions that allow businesses to grow globally. Finally, we have OutboundWorks.com, a domain that was first registered in 2017. Simply put, OutboundWorks provides outbound solutions for sales teams. 

Here is our list:

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More than 108 startups raised north of $762,327,614 in funding last week. Chinese AI chip maker, Think Force, led the funding round by raising just over $68M in Series A funding. Eighty (80) of the 108 startups on our list chose to launch with dot-com domain names, 2 startups chose dot-net domain names, while we have 1 dot-org domain. Moreover, 21 companies launched with a ccTLD, and we have four ngTLD domains; a dot-farm, a dot-systems, a dot-tech, and a dot-works.

By far the best domain on this week’s list is Loot.com, belonging to a British-based online publications company. The domain has a 1997 creation date, and might have been purchased by the current company in 2016. Next up, we have Descript.com, which definitely isn’t the greatest single word dot-com domain, but it works for the company. Descript is an audio processing platform. This is another domain that may have been acquired by the company’s founder in 2016.  Finally, we have Friss.com, which sold for $10K on Uniregistry back in July. For some reason, this 5L domain name attracted me. And although the word has no relationship with any English words (other than being one letter away from ‘frisk’), the word does have some meaning in some western European languages. Since the Dutch-based “fraud, risk and compliance” company just raised a cool €15M in Series A funding, I’d say that they bought their matching dot-com domain for a very nice price.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Here’s this weeks list:

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At least 85 startups raised more than $599,349,113 in funding last week. Altus Power raised a signifiant $150M in Venture funding. As the name suggests, the company is an energy company, but with a specific focus on renewable energy and solar power projects. Surprisingly, of the 84 startups, only 48 of the companies launched with a dot-com domain name, that is only 57%.  Thirty two (32) startups launched with a ccTLD, and we have one domain each of the following categories: dot-biz, dot-org, dot-car, dot-tech.

We’ve finally stumbled upon a week with multiple startups using single word dot-com domain names. Granted, they are not the most popular single words on the block, but we’ll take it. First up, we have Cedar.com, a domain first registered in 1997, and is being used by the company, Cedar, who helps hospital systems improve their patient payment/billing systems. Next up, we have Burrow.com, another well-aged domain with a 1996 creation date. Burrow is an innovative couch company, setting trends for creating customizable couches that are delivered directly to homes. The company seemed to have purchased the domain in the last 1-3 years. Finally, we have Inflect.com, which is a “platform for buying and selling internet infrastructure.”

Here’s this weeks list:

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More than $408,132,561 was raised by 77 startups last week. Singapore based Fullerton Health led the round after raising $120,920,000 in Venture funding. The company is a major provider of corporate health care in the Asia Pacific region. 56 of the 77 startups on our list chose to launch with a .com domain name, while 15 startups chose to launch with a ccTLD. Two startups used .net domain names, while we have one .business, one .solutions and two .tech domains.

And we have yet another week where it was difficult to choose domain names to highlight. First up we have Instafreight.com, a Berlin based freight transport company. ‘Insta‘ is definitely quite popular in the brandable domain world as a shortener for ‘instant’. Next up, we have SmarterEye.com, a Chinese driving automation company that raised a cool $15M in funding. Although the domain would only capture maximum 4 figures in the aftermarket, it works decently for an automated driving company. Finally, we have eLocal.com, belonging to an advertising company looking to connect consumers with their local businesses. The 20-year old domain name seemed to have changed hands multiple times, but was initially registered by a web-space leasing company.

Here’s this weeks list:

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Last week, 62 startups raised a sum of $197,176,137. The funding round was led by Cambridge-based biotechnology company Base4, who raised a huge £21,300,000 ($28,698,555 USD) in venture funding. Among other R&D work, the company is working to develop new DNA sequencing methods. Of the startups on this list, 68% chose to launch with a .com domain name, while 27% of them launched using a ccTLD. Representing the new gTLDs, we have a .network, a .health and a .money.

Honestly, I didn’t love any of the domains on this week’s list. Nevertheless, first up, we have BlueWorkforce.com, belonging to a Danish company that makes industrial robots. It seems that the domain name was hand-registered by the founder of the company in 2012, and it actually works decently for them. Next up, we have SuperMetrics.com, belonging to a Finish company that provides tools for monitoring web analytics etc. Clearly, the domain works well for this company in terms of communicating its mission. However, from a domainer standpoint, although ‘metric’ and ‘metrics’ domains remain popular among the brandable domain crowd, the past data shows that there aren’t many high profile sales in these categories. Finally, we have CircleLoop.com, a British company offering cloud-based phone software, as an alternative to the likes of Vonage and Voipfone. Personally, the combination of ‘circle’ and ‘loop’ gives the idea of connectedness, even as ‘loop’ in telephony is the physical connection circuit between a customer’s premises and the network provider. Quite technical, I know.

Here’s this weeks list:

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Wow! 101 startups raised a whopping $617,220,738 in funding last week. Shanghai based biopharmaceutical company, Zensun Sci & Tech Company led the funding rounds by raising 507M CNY ($76,837,974 USD). The company is looking for novel ways to cure cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Of the 101 startups, 68 chose to launch with a dot-com domain name while 26 of them launched using a ccTLD. Three (3) organizations chose dot-org domains, while we have a dot-bio, a dot-digital, a dot-online and a dot-tech.

Less.com definitely stands out as the best domain name on this list. The domain was first registered in 1997, but seems to have been bought by the company, Less, last month. Less is a Paris-based ride sharing company. To be honest, I struggled to choose another great domain on the list; until I saw some potential in the two-word brandable domains. First up in this category, we have TransferMate.com. Those who specialize in two-word brandable domains know that ‘mate’ is quite popular as a suffix. Transfer Mate Global Payments is a Dublin-based “B2B payments company seeking to make payments cheaper and faster.” Secondly, in the two word brandable category of domains, we have HungryFoal.com. And this domain is no superstar here, but it does clearly demonstrate what the company does. Hungry Foal is an India based food tech startup.

Here’s this weeks list:

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$981,611,640 was raised by 84 newly funded startups last week. Ecological Service Partners led the funding round by raising $250M in Venture funding.  This ecological restoration company seeks to revitalize the habitats of various animal species.  Of the 84 startups, 60 of them used a .com domain, while 18 of them chose a country-code top level domain. Thereafter, we have one .biz, one .net, two .org domains, and two new generic top level domains (a .academy and a .space).

The best domain on our list is Intersection.com, a domain first registered in 1997. Intersection secured a cool $150M in Venture funding, and is a company that “connects the physical world to the digital world in urban environments.” That is, they provide services like free wifi in cities. Next, we have CloudSense.com , which is the internet home of the British-based cloud software and service provider. Honestly, ‘Cloud Sense’ is definitely not the best ‘cloud’ domain out there, but works alright for this company. Finally, we have BrokerGenius.com, belonging to a New York based company that built a platform to help the ‘middle men’ in ticket sales. The name ‘broker genius’ is a decent brandable domain, as we’ve seen other domain names ending with ‘genius’ sell for up to $20K in the last couple of years (MoneyGenius.com)

Here’s this weeks list:

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The total amount raised by 95 newly funded startups this week was just a little more than the total amount raised by 85 startups last week: $587,760,616 USD was raised. The funding round was led by Donahue Schriber Realty Group, a real estate investment group that focusses on developing community-based shopping centers.  73% of our startups chose to launch with a .com domain name, while 24% of them chose a ccTLD, and one organization chose a .net domain.

The first decent domain on this week’s list is LoveSports.com. The company, Love Tennis, is a Chinese tennis platform. Surprisingly, they do not own LoveTennis.com nor LoveTennis.cn. Personally, the term “Love Sports” brings back faint memories of the “GotMilk?” slogan from a couple of years ago.  The second domain, VitalProteins.com is pretty straightforward for a natural protein company. Finally, we have Endy.com, a four letter pronounceable domain used by the Toronto-based furniture company.

Here’s this weeks list:

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