Company that invested $1.7 million in great domain name in 2009 gets $50 million infusion from Google Capital.
Google Capital has invested $50 million in real estate auction company Auction.com.
I don’t usually write about fundraising by companies with great domain names. It takes a lot more than a great domain name to build a good business. In fact, what is now Auction.com was already a fast growing business before it had the domain name.
Still, Real Estate Disposition Corporation’s $1.7 million purchase of the Auction.com domain name in 2009 was a smart move that gave the company greater credibility. Until then it operated at the domain name USHomeAuction.com.
With all of the misinformation and questionable practices in the home auctioning business after the downturn, owning Auction.com gave the company credibility that simply wasn’t there with USHomeAuction.com.
Which is why seeing this ad (pictured) on my local newspaper caught my attention. I wouldn’t have paid any attention had it merely read USHomeAuction.
[The original version of this article referred to Google Ventures. The investment was actually made by Google Capital.]
Don’t minimize the importance of the domain 🙂
Dot Coms Are The Best Foundation To Build upon…
but as you said not a guarantee of success.
Google involvement with this DOT COM based franchise is not but good news…
correction:
“Google involvement with this DOT COM based franchise is nothing but good news
No good preaching to the converted. Forward this to Forbes news-desk. I have.
I hope they can make it simpler by writing just Auction.com instead of http://www.AUCTION.com.
Actually, it looks pretty good as “www.AUCTION.com”, centered between that pair of 3-letter book ends.
Funny, I never associated the domain name with real estate. I kind of assumed it was for selling antiques or consumer goods, having never visited the website. That may be a hurdle for this otherwise fine name.
I wonder if this news has anything to do with the unsolicited first-ever email I received from Auction.fr yesterday (and yes, the email was entirely in French)?