Three years ago, IIM-C graduate Prakhar Bindal started Axsiom– India’s first and only private open-ended alternative investment fund that invests in domains. The Mumbai based entrepreneur’s first big break was buying the domain name Hangouts.net for $2 and selling it for $1200, making a massive 600 times return on his investment. The company has sold over 3500 domain names out of which more than 850 are owned by the startup directly.
With over 125,000 domain names under sale/brokerage, and a diverse clientele boasting of 250+ companies, Axsiom is now the preferred force in the corporate domains market. The startup analyses the future development of keywords and domains and evaluates them by in-depth analysis including assessing current advertisers to gather information about the value of particular keywords.
It also calculates the revenues that can be achieved through the corresponding domains and keywords in order to evaluate the proper buying prices and the potential return on investment. The startup follows different strategies to produce earnings, gain value, and to obtain a strategic edge in the domain market. Each strategy is linked to a specific type of monetization goal.
The startup’s latest innovation the .OOO extension released on the 3rd of November 2014 and received front page coverage on one of India’s leading dailies. The company focusses on the future value of domain names which enables them to purchase domains at cheaper costs in today’s market and sell them in the future when they yield their expected value, thereby resulting in massive profit figures. The startup has sold names from as low as just a few hundred dollars for simple domains to as high as six-figures for ultra-premium names. The CEO believes their ‘sweet spot’ is the $2500-$5000 level.
The startup has also catered to Walt Disney by procuring a premium domain name in the childcare segment for the company. Since then, the network has sold names to several Fortune 500 companies. The startup is expected to organize the second edition of the World Domain Day in 2015 and is also considering making the event international and exploring new markets.
Prakhar may have started only three years ago but he is currently estimated to have an asset base of about $10 million. Just like in real estate, the value of domain names keep appreciating as the years pass by. Hence the value of this startup can only increase in the future.
