Virtual Network SA Adds To $10 Million Domain Investments W/ Brain.com

Brain.com has been purchased by Virtual Network SA of Switzerland.

Virtual Networks CEO Stéphane Pictet confirmed the purchase to TheDomains by stating “Virtual Network has bought Brain.com in Dec 2014 for an undisclosed amount. This highly brandable domain name is now part of our pipeline of premium brands for future internal or external projects.”

Brain.com is currently redirecting to Virtual-Network.com’s main website which states that “Brain.com Coming soon. Virtual Network has currently a 100% stake in Brain.com”.

According to Virtual-Network.com:

Founded by Stefan Renninger and Stéphane Pictet, Virtual Network is a Swiss Internet Group developing and financing digital projects since 1997, some with great returns as for example Zong sold to Paypal.

While having an operational focus in Switzerland, we also appreciate to assist smart entrepreneurs from all continents.

Our mission is to share our successes with colleagues, partners and shareholders. Please feel free to contact us if you are a startup with strong USP, scalable and validated business model.

Our hundreds of premium brands in portfolio, experience, network and passion are our ingredients for an exciting and successful future.

Domain Advisors / Jeffrey Gabriel was brokering Brain.com in early 2012 according to this press release and into December 2014 according to Archive.org. I did reach out Igloo.com which was Domain Advisors, to confirm they were still brokering at the time of the sale but did not hear back from Tessa at time of publication.

Stéphane Pictet also mentioned “Since 1997 to invest in premium domain names (more than $10M until today), mostly for future projects we will develop one day. We have in the last few years restructured our portfolio and sold some domains like 22.com, 44.com, 55.com and Dollars.com. We now have a portfolio of 2,000 domain names, including Brain.com, Cocoon.com and CookingRecipes.com.”

DomainCapital.com was listed as the registrant of the domain name prior to it selling according to whois records and Vince Harasymiak from Domain Capital stated “The name was owned by a client, not Domain Capital. We always believed in the value of the name and were happy to participate in a transaction that pleased all parties.” According to Domain Capitals website, “Domain Capital is the first and only financial services company to offer financing to businesses based on the inherent and recognized value of premium domain names.”

A spokesperson for the seller, a private investment company, confirmed the pivotal role played Domain Capital in originating the sale and in assisting in the buyer and seller in resolving as quickly as possible a “snag” in the title transfer process. This firm said it has used and will use Domain Capital for all of its domain needs utilizing the full range of its services. It highly recommends Domain Capital, and specifically the high quality advice and execution of Vince Harasmiak.

Estibot.com appraises Brain.com at $1,250,000.

About Jamie Zoch