Domain Industry News

3rd Annual DNSeattle Event in May

The 2016 DNSeattle domain investor event has been scheduled for May 12th. The third annual event will be hosted by GoDaddy at their Kirkland, Washington headquarters. It is being organized by DomainSherpa’s Michael Cyger.

In 2014, DNSeattle was held on top of the Space Needle and there were approximately 50 people in attendance. Last year, the event was held at Rightside’s headquarters, and there were about 75 people in attendance. Michael is hoping to cap the event at around 75 people to keep it more intimate. “I want people to be able to see everyone there, if they want the opportunity to speak to them,” he told me.

Advance registration is required, and the cost to attend the event is $15. Making this event even better is that

Merlin’s Soothe Raises $35m in Funding

Yesterday afternoon, I shared an interview Merlin Kauffman had with a local Fox television affiliate to promote his popular and growing in-home massage startup, Soothe. It looks like there is more news from the company today – and it is pretty significant.

According to a VentureBeat article published this afternoon, Soothe just raised $35 million in funding. The article stated that Soothe has now raised a total of $47.7 million in funding. The article did not mention a valuation for Soothe at this level of funding.

Merlin Kauffman has been

Merlin Kauffman Talks About Soothe on Fox 59

Merlin Kauffman was interviewed on Fox 59 this morning, and I embedded the interview below. Fox 59 is the Fox television station affiliate in Indiana, and Merlin is originally from Indianapolis. The topic of the interview is Merlin’s at-home massage service called Soothe, which just launched in the Indianapolis market.

I am sure it was an honor for Merlin to be interviewed on his local television station. Hopefully Soothe will launch in the greater Boston market in the near future!

After $100M in Sales, Donuts Appoints New Executives

I knew Donuts had sold over 2 million new gTLD domain names, but I did not realize that the company had achieved over $100 million in sales. I learned this in a press release that was distributed by the company this morning announcing some new company executives and an addition to the Board of Directors.

Here’s a copy of the press release announcing the news:

DONUTS BOLSTERS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, APPOINTS NEW EXECUTIVES

Largest operator of new domain extensions appoints new director, CFO and VP, Corporate Development

Donuts Inc., the world’s largest

Escrow.com Announces “Domain Concierge Service”

In a news release early today, Escrow.com announced that it will begin offering an enhanced “Domain Concierge Service” to make  domain name deals more secure for both parties. The company will take possession of both the funds as well as the domain name. This additional level of service is not a requirement for all transactions, and there is an added cost to use this new service.

Here’s what Escrow.com wrote about its Domain Concierge Service:

Many buyers and sellers prefer the security of an independent third party completing the transfer of the domain on their behalf. Our staff will manage the receipt of both the funds and the domain into Escrow.com’s secure accounts, check the domain against the purchase agreement and complete the transfer to the buyer for security at every stage in the transaction.

Using the Domain Concierge Service is quite

Antony Van Couvering Out as CEO of Minds & Machines

I received a press release this morning announcing that Antony Van Couvering  is no longer CEO of Minds & Machines, the company he founded. I did a quick Google search to confirm the  report, and I saw that Antony published an article about this on CircleID: I Got Fired.

Here’s an excerpt about the news from the press release:

Minds + Machines Group Limited (LSE:MMX), the publicly quoted owner and operator of Internet top-level domains, announces that Antony Van Couvering is no longer the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Mr Van Couvering was removed from office with immediate effect by means of a unanimous resolution of directors passed at a meeting of directors held on 19 February 2016. The Group is currently making the transition from asset gatherer to monetisation of its leading portfolio of top-level domains; the Board believes a change of leadership will assist in this process. As such, the Board is delighted that the Company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Toby Hall, has, subject to regulatory approvals, accepted the Company’s offer to take on the role of Chief Executive and lead the Group during this important period.

Here’s an excerpt from Antony’s

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