CentralNic signed a deal with Domain Venture Partners as stated in the press release below. Central Nic is a publicly traded company on the London Aim, the stock is up about 2.4 % to 84.5 pence. Domain Venture Partners is a fund that has been set up by new gtld applicant Famous Four Media.
Press Release:
CentralNic plc (AIM:CNIC), the internet platform business which derives revenues from the worldwide sale of internet domain names, today announces that it has signed an agreement (“agreement”) with Domain Venture Partners’ new investment fund, DVP II, whereby the Company has been selected to be the registry service provider for certain registries acquired by DVP II; meaning that CentralNic’s platform will be used to enable their domain names to be purchased through domain name retailers (“registrars”) worldwide.
Domain Venture Partners (“DVP”) recently launched DVP II as an investment fund, with a target size of US$400 million, to acquire Top-Level Domain registries, some of which are already live. DVP (through DVP I) invested in 60 companies which applied for licenses to operate generic TLD registries, and has become one of the largest registry operator groups.
Commenting on the agreement between CentralNic and DVP II, Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic said: “This presents a fantastic new opportunity for CentralNic, and we are delighted to be working with the market leading professionals within the banking, legal and technology fields that support DVP II. This agreement not only fits well with our stated strategy to increase the inventory of Top-Level Domains carried by our platform, but also confirms CentralNic’s position as market leader in providing registry services. In addition to the potential to accelerate top-line and bottom-line growth for CentralNic, our experience and expertise in promoting registries will complement Domain Venture Partners’ already formidable Sales and Marketing capability. We look forward to working with the team at DVP II as both companies seek to expand our presence in the market.”
“CentralNic is an organisation that shares our passion to develop and transform the global domain name market place”, said Charles Melvin, Chief Operating Officer at Domain Venture Partners. “We are delighted to welcome CentralNic as a preferred technology back-end provider. We have been impressed by CentralNic’s experience in operating successful registry back-end services as well as its proven ability to market and help distribute domain names in a strategic and creative manner.”
About CentralNic Group plc
CentralNic (LSE: CNIC) is one of the world’s pioneering registry service providers, offering technical backend, distribution, policy and marketing for new TLDs, ccTLDs and SLDs. CentralNic currently supports 31 domain extensions including .pw, .la, .com.de, .us.com and .uk.com — more extensions than any other registry. CentralNic was selected as the back-end registry provider for 60 new Top-Level Domains, and will be launching TLDs including .wiki, .college, .bar, .rest, .ink and .xyz, as well as DotBrand domains for Global 1000 banks and telcos, and for media and entertainment leaders William Morris Endeavor and Guardian Media.
CentralNic’s distribution network includes 1500 registrars – entities such as GoDaddy and Network Solutions in over 80 countries that retail domain names directly to the public and wholesale them through an additional network of over 100,000 resellers.
About Domain Venture Partners
Domain Venture Partners was founded to create a bridge between the demand for and supply of finance, and the provision of technical support in relation to ICANN’s new generic Top Level Domain (TLD) name process. It has since evolved to become the only regulated structured investment fund group for experienced investors to benefit from returns generated by investing in and managing TLD registries. DVP provides investors with a clean and direct access to an uncorrelated asset class, which would ordinarily be out of the reach of individual investors.
