Domain name upgrades happen on a regular basis, but here are nine upgrades that caught my eye in Q3 of 2021, which ran from July 1 to September 30.
Table of Contents
Deity.com
Deity is a Dutch e-commerce development brand headed by Roland Bastiaansen. The company was formed in 2017 and since then, it has been operating on the Deity.io domain name. In September 2021, Deity acquired Deity.com for $60,000 in a deal completed via the Sedo marketplace.
Swan.com
Many domain acquisitions seem to be made by companies in the cryptocurrency space, and this is a prime example. Swan Bitcoin, a Bitcoin investment company, paid an unknown fee to acquire Swan.com, upgrading from SwanBitcoin.com in the process. The purchase, which coincided with the company’s Series A funding round, was facilitated by brokerage powerhouse Media Options.
Firework.com
Short-form video startup Firework made a significant brand investment by acquiring Firework.com from the domain’s original owner. The purchase, spotted by Jamie Zoch on Twitter, is an upgrade from the company’s existing Firework.tv domain. The company also owns FW.tv. As of writing, Firework.com redirects to Firework.tv.
Forge.com
Founded in 2014, Forge is an investment platform that offers liquidity to shareholders of private companies. The company made an impressive leap by acquiring Forge.com as an upgrade from its original ForgeGlobal.com domain. My article on DomainNameWire has further details.
Titan.com
Another financial investment company, and another domain name upgrade. Titan, a platform that was valued at $450 million as it announced a $58 million funding round, made the switch from a truly confusing name to an ultra-premium. From Titanvest.com, the company transitioned to the phenomenal Titan.com.
Lettuce.com
Lettuce Entertain You made the decision to upgrade from a four-letter initialism, LEYE.com to the one-word Lettuce.com. The deal was, according to DomainInvesting.com, brokered by Andrew Miller.
Percent.com
Percent, our third financial investment company on the list, rebranded from Cadence to Percent in April 2021 and immediately acquired MyPercent.com. A couple of months later, Percent switched to Percent.com.
Lick.com
As of writing, the company hasn’t put this into use, but home decor brand Lick looks to have acquired its exact-match .com, Lick.com. The British company, which raised $23 million in Series A funding in June 2021, is currently using LickHome.com.
Primer.com
Primer is an online community for kids to interact, learn, and work on collaborative projects. The company has been using WithPrimer.com, but moved to Primer.com in September 2021. Primer.com’s previous owner, another startup called Primer, was acquired by Shopify in June 2021.
Many of these upgrades were first spotted by domain researcher Jamie Zoch. If you appreciate his work, you can buy him a coffee.