A company called ASI announced a $325 million Series C funding round this week at a $3 billion valuation. The company recently acquired the valuable ASI.com domain name.
ASI was originally known as Airspace Intelligence, and it has operated on the hyphenated Airspace-Intelligence.com domain name. It has used ASI as an abbreviated name for quite some time and has increasingly transitioned its public-facing branding to ASI. The company’s website and its most recent news releases now prominently use the ASI branding, as does its social media presence and references.
At the moment, ASI continues to use its original domain name for its website, and ASI.com forwards to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if that changes at some point in the future.
I noticed the apparent domain name acquisition after seeing a recent registrar transfer, Whois change, and nameserver change via DomainIQ and DomainTools. ASI.com had been registered at Cloudflare and was used by a company called Automatic Systems, Inc. That company is now using ASIConveyors.com for its website. The ASI.com domain name recently transferred to Namecheap, where the registrant info is redacted on the Whois record.
Because of the redacted Whois information, I can’t conclusively confirm that the domain name changed hands / was acquired by ASI, but that would appear to be the case. Update: Rob Schutz from Snagged confirmed the domain name changed hands, in a deal he brokered on behalf of the buyer.
ASI.com is an exact match for the branding the company has been using. It eliminates the hyphen and lengthy Airspace-Intelligence.com domain name while giving the company a short and memorable three letter .com domain name.
There is also another aspect that makes the ASI.com domain name particularly valuable. ASI is a commonly used acronym for artificial superintelligence. While the company’s ASI name originated from Airspace Intelligence, that association gives ASI.com additional meaning and value in the AI space. According to its homepage, “ASI builds the AI engines that model physical reality, simulate what happens next, and orchestrate high-consequence operations in real time, so the people in command see further and act sooner.” This makes an acquisition even more relevant to the company.
ASI was originally known as Airspace Intelligence, and it has operated on the hyphenated Airspace-Intelligence.com domain name (True. But they also own and forward AirspaceIntelligence .com to their primary website).
$325M Series C is a mega round.
Smart move to acquire ASI .com.
Nice deal for Rob Schutz.
“in a deal he brokered on behalf of the buyer”
🙂
Just remember, folks.
No matter who it is, and what the party looks like, you could and very possibly are dealing with someone acting in that capacity.
And when you even have the slightest inkling that may be so and the party is acting “undercover” – tell them. Don’t let anyone or any tactic fool you about the value of your domain, if you’re someone who has a good grasp on that topic. I don’t even mean any maximum or optimal value either – just even fair and reasonable value that’s a good move already for whoever their client is, let alone best and optimal for you. It’s not for nothing TradingCards.com just went for $2 million, for instance. $70 million is “good” and life changing for most, but we all know $100 million to $500 million would have been perfectly reasonable, appropriate and good for any buyer who could afford it. And so on.
I.e. $70m vs. $100m to $500m for AI.com.
Another thing:
Do not underestimate the extent to which they will go to appear legit. Including having a serious looking website up and running, real company registration, and even real verifiable 501(C)(3) non-profit status. Etc.