These Chinese companies use English brands and domains only

No Pinyin here.

There is a misconception that corporate China only buys Pinyin domains. That is not true. Chinese companies do use English domains, and, in some cases, they use only English brands and domains. Here are some examples.

Fiture sells smart fitness machines for home use. The startup was founded in 2019 but already received $6 million Series A investment in the same year. The company’s brand name seems to be based on the words “fitness” and “future”, with the matching Fiture.com as its corporate domain. If you visit the site, you won’t find any Chinese brand name.

PingPong is a fintech startup that provides cross-border payment services. It was founded in 2014 and has received funding of more than $120 million. The company’s corporate domain is Pingpongx.com but it also operates from PingPongPayments.com. Again, you won’t find any Chinese brand name on these sites.

Keep provides a variety of fitness programs for its more than 160 million users. The startup was founded in 2014 and has received funding of $174 million. Its corporate domain is Keep.com, which is an upgrade from GotoKeep.com. Millions of its users have no difficulty remembering the Chinese brand “Keep”.

VIPKid is a fast-growing education startup that helps Chinese children learn English directly online from teachers in the United States. It was founded in 2013 and has received funding of $1.1 billion. The company’s corporate domain is VIPKid.com. Now, even children have no problem remembering “VIPKid”.

These Chinese startups have all received VC funding and they feature a large number of users. Apparently, their growth in China is not hindered by the absence of any Chinese brand. This is because most Chinese consumers can understand simple English. So, I think domains based on simple English have a great future in China.