GoDaddy announced this week it was acquiring Uniregistry’s leading domain registrar and marketplace businesses. The deal is expected to close sometime in the second quarter of 2020. The Uniregistry domain registry is not part of the transaction.
Uniregistry started in 2014 by catering to domain name investors with specialized tools to register, manage and sell domains. They later expanded its service to other audiences while still focusing on domain name investors.
“Uniregistry is unique in that domain investors built it from the ground up so their products and services have always catered to the domain investor community,” said GoDaddy Vice President Paul Nicks. “This acquisition reinforces GoDaddy’s commitment to domain investors. Combining Uniregistry’s solutions and incredible knowledge with our platform will help investors succeed and advance future innovations for them. We can’t wait to get started.”
“One of the mantra’s we repeat around the Uniregistry office is that we dream about building a company of permanence and value. When I started speaking with GoDaddy, it became clear how passionate we both are about our customers and this industry. I realized the best way to fulfill our mantras and dreams was to join with Godaddy,” said Uni Founder and CEO, Frank Schilling. “I’m so proud of the team we’ve put together. It is incredibly rewarding to give them the opportunity to scale our solutions with GoDaddy’s customers. The years ahead will truly be awesome!”
In addition to the registrar and marketplace, GoDaddy is also acquiring Uniregistry’s domain portfolio of more than 350,000 names.
“Frank is one of the smartest and savviest investors, and his portfolio shows that knowledge and acumen. We can’t wait to bring these to market for our customers with competitive prices,” Nicks continued.
To better support enterprise-level customers, GoDaddy also announced theyâre acquiring corporate domain name portfolio manager Brandsight in the transaction. Commenting on the acquisition of Brandsight, the companyâs founder and CEO Phil Lodico said in a post on the company blog âto say that we are thrilled would be an understatement â we couldnât be happier about it.â
Lodico went on to write âBrandsight will continue to operate with the same great high levels of service and support that they have come to expect. That said, Brandsight clients will benefit from our access to additional technology and resources which will increase significantly as a result of the acquisition. This means that weâll be able to further accelerate our focus on building secure, intuitive and powerful corporate domain management solutions.â