Axsiom sees 15% rise in domain names under management

Axsiom, touted as India's first private open-ended alternative investment fund that focuses on investing in domain names and disruptive Internet-based ideas in the e-commerce space, is expecting the domain names portfolio under its management to increase 10% to 15% year-on-year, said its chief executive officer Prakhar Bindal.

The company, which helps organisations secure premium domain names (like Money.com) for their businesses, currently has 125,000 domains under its management, including 20% .ins and other Indian domains, with a cumulative valuation of close to $30 million.

Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the one-day World Domain Day India 2014, organised by Indian Domain Owners Association (IDOA), a recently-floated body comprising domain investors, web entrepreneurs and service providers, in Hyderabad on Sunday, Bindal said Axsiom not just invests its clients' money in domain names, but also manages them, makes money out of them and gives returns to the clients.

Axsiom is also auctioning rare and premium domain names like gurunanak.com and tirupatibalaji.com with the starting bids at $1 at the conference. The company is expecting to garner over $25,000 from gurunanak.com and over $50,000 from tirupatibalaji.com.

Bindal said annual domain name sales were estimated to exceed $250 million globally, primarily driven by increasing Internet penetration. "Domain sales are seeing an uptick, especially in developing nations like China, while countries like India are lagging behind. India has a little over two million domain names, the lowest in any country with a population of one billion," he added.

Stating that new Generic Top-Level Domains (GTLD) licenses (like .consulting and .media) had been issued and they were being gradually rolled out every week for the next 10 to 12 months, he said this was a great opportunity for India to keep pace with this Internet revolution and take advantage of it.