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New .Com Winners & Losers

by — Domain Registrars 2 Comments

NameSilo jumps on monthly list.

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers November 2018.

The only notable movement was NameSilo, which jumped from #10 to #6 on the monthly report. It’s currently the 11th largest .com registrar. You can read an interview with NameSilo’s CEO here.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations.

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 865,438 (893,103 in October)
2. Alibaba (HiChina) 312,227 (204,213)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 175,148 (183,542)
4. NameCheap Inc. 157,607 (139,033)
5. Xin Net Technology Corporation 152,143 (135,590)
6. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 130,713 (68,758)
7. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 123,087 (130,915)
8. Web.com++ 97,702 (105,815)
9. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 88,236 (92,312)
10. United Internet^ (FRA: UTDI) 66,501 (71,257)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of November 2018.

1. GoDaddy* 49,370,531 (49,222,603 in October)
2. Tucows** 12,659,835 (12,709,575)
3. Endurance+ 7,179,580 (7,240,990)
4. Web.com++ 6,732,478 (6,730,384)
5. Alibaba 6,192,801 (5,972,559)
6. United Internet^ 5,666,856 (5,675,949)
7. Namecheap 4,515,221 (4,452,551)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 2,792,514 (2,639,761)
9. Google 2,057,844 (2,005,816)
10. GMO 1,964,580 (1,975,188)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy and Wild West Domains
** Includes Tucows and Enom
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions and Register.com
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Q&A with NameSilo CEO Kristaps Ronka

by — Domain Registrars 5 Comments

NameSilo CEO explains the background of the fast-growing registrar.

NameSilo.com home page

NameSilo seems to have come out of nowhere.

The domain name registrar doubled its domains under management in just one year. It is usually among the top ten registrars each month in terms of new .com registrations.

So where did the registrar come from and how has it grown so quickly? I asked CEO Kristaps Ronka some questions to find out the story.

DNW: What’s the history of NameSilo? Who created it and when?

NameSilo was created by a trio of entrepreneurs in Phoenix Arizona who started the business in 2010. Through their hard work and dedication, they built the platform on their own from scratch and got accredited with ICANN. Having set the foundation and having looked at the domain name registrar landscape, they saw their opportunity in building a business focused on providing the lowest-cost domains, so as to deliver the maximum value possible for customers. Over the next couple of years, the platform grew, both in domain count and functionality. Not only did the team build out value-added services such as domain parking, e-mail forwarding as well as account security features like domain defender and 2-factor authentication, but also started to expand beyond solely domain name registration by building out a low-cost Marketplace to allow customers to buy and sell NameSilo domains.

It took some time for the business to hit its stride and for word of mouth to spread across the industry but by August of 2017, NameSilo joined the top 1% of ICANN accredited domain registrars with over 1 million active domains under management. And since then, the growth has only amplified – today, NameSilo is now one of the fastest growing domain name registrars in the world with over 2.5M active domains under management.

DNW: What is Brisio Innovations and when did it come into the picture?

Brisio Innovations (now NameSilo Technologies) is an investment issuer and a Canadian public company (CSE:URL). We purchased NameSilo through Brisio. NameSilo was the first deal of its kind for Brisio where, instead of investing in the company, we fully acquired the entity. The business opportunity and potential synergy became apparent between the team members and the deal was structured to provide ample resources, both financial and human capital, for NameSilo to continue the current growth trajectory. The acquisition was completed in August 2018 and the team has been rolling since.

DNW: Who is NameSilo’s target customer?

NameSilo’s target customer is anyone seeking low-cost domain name registration services without compromising on quality or support. Generally, the user will be savvy about domain names and prefers the DIY approach. They would have an extensive domain name portfolio, making the cost savings gained through us that much more substantial. An exemplification of this target customer would be someone or a Small/Medium Business providing hosting services – they use us for their domain name registrations and focus their time on actually building the hosting service and customer base.

DNW: The domain registrar business is cutthroat. What differentiates NameSilo?

We have built our business on providing the lowest everyday pricing while not compromising on the quality of our platform, features or support. This customer-first approach has enabled us to achieve the success we’ve managed thus far, so we don’t want to sway too far from it. We have had exceptional growth through word of mouth. We continue to strive for improvements in all our products and services on a daily basis. Our feeling is that as long as we’re delivering on these fundamental offerings, success and growth will follow.

DNW: Are you part of Sedo MLS or Afternic DLS?

Yes, we are a part of SEDO MLS & Afternic DLS to provide additional avenues for our customers to buy and sell domain names.

DNW: Are the original founders still with the company? Who leads it now?

The founders are now in an advisory role.

My background is the following: I co-founded a company called AdParlor in 2008. We were a social media advertising company offering a third cost model – cost per acquisition on Facebook. We sold in 2011 to a company called AdKnowledge out of Kansas City. I am an entrepreneur, developer, advisor.

Our CMO, Endrit Muca, joined NameSilo from AdParlor shortly after we took over the business. Our new COO is Arthur Poghosian and our new CTO is Eugene Melnichenko. Both have joined us from NamePal.

Google Domains tops 2 million .com domains

by — Domain Registrars 6 Comments

Google’s registrar now the ninth biggest for .com domain names.

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers October 2018.

As forecasted, Google Domains has surpassed GMO to become the 9th largest registrar for .com domains. As of the end of October it had over 2 million .com domains under management.

Starting this month I’m combining United Internet’s main registrars to include more than just 1&1.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations.

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 893,103 (868,031 in September)
2. Alibaba (HiChina) 204,213 (133,156)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 183,542 (174,114)
4. NameCheap Inc. 139,033 (139,581)
5. Xin Net Technology Corporation 135,590 (170,284)
6. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 130,915 (143,179)
7. Web.com++ 105,815 (99,859)
8. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 92,312 (85,550)
9. United Internet^ 71,257
10. NameSilo 68,758 (88,409)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of October 2018.

1. GoDaddy* 49,222,603 (49,079,269 in September)
2. Tucows** 12,709,575 (12,751,782)
3. Endurance+ 7,240,990 (7,335,322)
4. Web.com++ 6,730,384 (6,722,165)
5. Alibaba 5,972,559 (5,852,659)
6. United Internet^ 5,675,949 (3,688,497)
7. Namecheap 4,452,551 (4,405,568)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 2,639,761 (2,522,185)
9. Google 2,005,816 (1,953,943)
10. GMO 1,975,188 (1,979,668)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy and Wild West Domains
** Includes Tucows and Enom
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions and Register.com
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

NameSilo acquires domain registrar and expired domain company NamePal

by — Domain Registrars 12 Comments

Deal will give NameSilo more tools to target domain investors.

NamePal’s Fetch is a domain backorder aggregation service.

Domain name registrar NameSilo (PINKSHEETS: NTCEF, URL:CSE) has acquired NamePal, a small domain name registrar with an expired domain backorder platform.

The all-equity deal is for up to a 1.75% interest in NameSilo, with the equity payments not starting until 6 months after completion of the acquisition. At today’s market cap, that’s only a few hundred thousand dollars. However, NameSilo is picking up NamePal’s team, so there might be employment agreements as part of the deal.

In a release, NameSilo touts NamePal’s Fetch! Product as a big reason for the acquisition. Fetch is a multi-platform backorder aggregator. According to a product page, Fetch allows you to place backorders on a central dashboard and manage your purchased domains through a central location as well:

Tired of using dozens of registrar platforms for your backorder domains? Multiple logins and different control panels can waste your time and cause delays that cost you money and customers. NamePal’s new Fetch! is here to solve your problems, our proprietary Backorder Platform will consolidate and make managing your backorders faster and convenient. Capture domains across multiple popular catch services, manage your remote domains and participate in auctions across the web, all in one location.

The page notes that the product is coming soon.

I can see value in a service like Fetch, especially if users can manage their purchased domains from one dashboard rather than logging into each registrar account.

A 2017 presentation explains NamePal’s plans to target domain investors with tools and services, including a domain “afterlife” program that lets domainers share in income received from a domain after it is sold to another user.

Arthur Poghosian founded NamePal. He also was CEO of BackorderZone.com, which he sold to Web.com in 2016.

The most recent domain data report at ICANN from September shows that NamePal.com has 26,000 .com domains under management at its main registrar, plus 40,000 at affiliate registrars that were likely set up for dropcatching.

The acquisition signals that NameSilo continues to beef up its domainer-targeted offerings.

 

NameSilo hits $20 million in bookings for 2018

by — Domain Registrars 8 Comments

Domain registrar continues to show solid growth.

Namesilo domain registrar logoDomain name registrar NameSilo (PINKSHEETS: NTCEF, URL:CSE) is reporting that it had US $20.1 million in bookings during 2018. It defines bookings as cash received from new domain registrations, renewals and other services. Fourth quarter bookings were $5.4 million.

The registrar has been on a tear in recent years, especially after it was acquired last year. It is often among the top ten registrars in terms of new monthly .com domain registrations.

In a release, the company states that it added 420,000 domains under management (DUMs) last quarter across all top level domains. It says it’s the largest registrar for .ICU domains, so the DUMs are inflated a bit by inexpensive domains. But it had nearly 1.5 million .com domains as of the end of September, making it one of the top 15 domain name registrars overall for .com.

NameSilo reports that it has 240,000 customers.