.Club Domains Signs ICANN Registry Agreement

Source: http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/club-domains-signs-icann-registry-agreement

.Club Domains, the operator of new gTLD .CLUB, announced on Monday that it has signed its registry agreement with ICANN.

As one of multiple applicants for the .CLUB gTLD, .Club Domains had to beat out other companies including Donuts and Merchant Law Group in a private auction in order to secure the new gTLD. Donuts announced seven of its new gTLDs last week, including .BIKE and .GURU.

According to .Club Domains, it has spent more than $5 million on a private auction, legal fees and market awareness campaigns since its formation in 2012. Marketing is one of the biggest challenges brought on by new gTLDs, as a recent Sedo study showed a lack of education around new gTLDs could threaten SMB adoption.

.Club Domains is backed by $8.2 million from 26 private investors including Canadian entrepreneurs William Campbell and Dirk Bhagat. As implied by its name, .Club Domains only applied for one new gTLD.

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