8 Domain Upgrades Revealed in July 2022

This edition looks at eight upgrades that either happened or were discovered in July 2022. The domain names below are all ultra-premium assets businesses have secured to improve their online presence, rendering many of them “off the market forever.”

Morning.com

Across LinkedIn and Crunchbase, there are dozens of companies that use the brand name Morning, but only one company can own Morning.com.

In July 2022, the Morning.com domain name was acquired by Morning, a co-working startup based in Paris, France.

Founded in 2014, Morning predominantly provides co-working spaces, but the company also works with businesses to help reimagine their existing office layouts.

Morning’s website showcases its collection of co-working spaces dotted around Paris. In that respect, Morning’s website is its virtual shop window and the first point at which many potential customers interact with the brand. The right domain, then, sets the perfect first impression.

Whois history suggests that the Morning.com domain transfer may have happened in April 2022, but the company began redirecting Morning.com to its existing Morning.fr domain in July 2022. The acquisition was publicly noted by Elliot Silver.

Morning.com was previously owned by another French startup called Morning. The Fintech brand closed its doors in 2020, allowing the co-working company to acquire this ultra-premium .com domain.

Strive.com

Strive.com, a powerhouse of a domain name, found a new home in July 2022 when Strive Asset Management secured it in an upgrade from StriveFunds.com.

The Ohio-based investment company launched earlier in 2022 with major backing from some of the most recognizable names in the business world. PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman were among the investors that put $20 million into launching Strive Asset Management.

Why the buzz around this brand? According to Strive, it’s down to its mission to restore “the voices of everyday citizens in the American economy by guiding companies to focus on excellence over politics.”

Strive Asset Management secured Strive.com in July 2022, acquiring the domain from long-term owners Strive, a Canadian business consulting company that has since switched to Strive.ca.

It didn’t take long for the asset management company to transition to Strive.com, which now hosts its corporate website. This is one of the best domain names to have changed hands in 2022.

Fable.com

Premium dinnerware company Fable made an epic improvement to its digital identity in July, moving from FableHome.co to Fable.com.

Founded in 2019, Fable is a company that sells artisanal tableware made from recycled clay. This trendy Canadian startup is pitching its products to the top of the market, with full dinnerware sets available for $270.

Its premium price point is now matched by the brand’s premium domain, Fable.com, a remarkable step-up from FableHome.co, the domain name on which the brand started its life.

According to Whois history, Fable.com likely changed hands around the beginning of July 2022. By mid-July, Fable had transitioned its entire operation from FableHome.co to Fable.com. The acquisition was noted publicly by Jamie Zoch.

This switch came just before Fable announced a $6.55 million (CAD $8.4 million) Series A funding round. According to the Vancouver Tech Journal, part of Fable’s aim for its new capital is to expand its digital and physical footprint.

Securing Fable.com will undoubtedly help Fable to expand its digital presence.

Loop.com

The Loop.com domain name changed hands in July 2021, but we didn’t know who had acquired the domain name or why for a year. It wasn’t until July 2022 that things became more apparent when the logistics platform Loop began operating on the domain.

I need to discuss the domain I own!

Loop was founded in 2021 by two former Uber employees on a mission to simplify logistics payments, an area that desperately needs innovation. The company has already raised more than $25 million in Series A funding, backed by the likes of Founders Fund, 8VC, and Flexport.

The company initially launched its public-facing brand on the Loop.us domain name before transitioning to Loop.com in July 2022.

Loop is an ultra-competitive brand name, with Crunchbase listing 281 companies using Loop as part of their brand identity. Some of these companies, such as Loop Returns, have raised significant amounts of funding, but only a brand new business was motivated enough to pull out all the stops to secure the defining Loop.com domain.

Perp.com

Web3 brands have been big buyers of .com domain names recently, with Novel.com, Tactic.com, and Ballet.com all moving into the hands of Web3 startups this year.

In July, I noticed another Web3 company had secured a .com domain upgrade.

Perpetual Protocol is a software creator that designed a way to facilitate the buying and selling of perpetual contracts in a way that mirrors a traditional exchange.

The startup, based in China, was founded in 2019 and has managed to facilitate more than 5.4 million trades to date, with a trading volume exceeding $13 billion.

In mid-2021, Perp made a significant upgrade to its Web2 digital presence by securing Perp.com for an undisclosed fee. This .com acquisition was a direct upgrade from Perp.fi, the company’s previous name. While this happened a while ago, it hasn’t been publicly noted.

Perp.com now hosts the company’s entire platform and associated assets.

Flip.com

This was partially a domain upgrade and partially a rebrand, which we discussed in August’s edition of Off The Market Forever on DomainSherpa.com.

FlipGrid, an online video discussion platform, was acquired by tech giant Microsoft in 2018. The company, which focused on the education sector, was used by 20 million teachers and students at the time of its acquisition.

Since then, FlipGrid has remained a standalone brand and widened its potential audience to anyone interested in learning.

In July, FlipGrid announced a rebrand from FlipGrid to simply Flip. Along with the rebrand came a domain name switch. Flip began operating on Flip.com.

The move, spotted first by Jamie Zoch, has reinvigorated the platform, with renewed marketing buzz around the new brand name.

Flip’s outstanding move to secure Flip.com has quickly seen the company’s online platform move to the new domain.

Bother.com

This is a domain upgrade I noticed, thanks to a leaflet posted through my door in July. British grocery brand Bother was founded in 2019 as an alternative, eco-friendly way to shop for groceries online.

Backed by the likes of Revolut, Deliveroo, and Just Eat, Bother has raised $6.1 million in publicly disclosed funding to date, with further undisclosed funding rounds likely taking Bother past the $10 million mark.

What stood out to me on the aforementioned leaflet was the Bother.com domain name that the company operates on. Some background research led me to discover that Bother has recently upgraded from WeBother.co.uk to Bother.com.

The upgrade, which is the perfect destination for this online-only brand, looks to have been secured in late 2021 but remained undiscovered until now. Bother is still in the process of transitioning over to its new domain.

While the company operates its grocery platform at Bother.com, its email system still runs on WeBother.co.uk. Moving an entire, established system to a new domain can be complex and lengthy, but ultimately it’s usually worth it!

Alley.com

There are two companies in New York City called Alley, and from what I can gather, a domain name has changed hands between them.

The first company, Alley, is a business consulting firm founded in 2012 to help companies across the US.

The second, Alley, is a digital consultation company specializing in designing and developing digital platforms for news media, museums, and nonprofit publishers.

The domain name, Alley.com, was owned and operated by the business consulting agency Alley until July 2022, when the domain name started redirecting to Alley, the digital developer’s existing site currently hosted at Alley.co.

From the outside, it looks like digital developer Alley has acquired the Alley.com domain name in an upgrade from Alley.co.

My research has led me to believe that business consulting firm Alley has rebranded from Alley to CoLab, currently operating on the LetsCoLab.io domain. An email to representatives of bother Alley and CoLab have been unanswered.

The .co to .com upgrade path is well trodden, with dozens of companies completing the move before now.