Industry Internet Services Domain Marketplace Headquarters Amsterdam, Netherlands | Area served Worldwide Website undeveloped.com Founded 2014 | |
Undeveloped B.V. is a domain marketplace startup which aims to give access to all registered but unused domain names. This implies making over 50 million domain names accessible through their domain marketplace. Undeveloped currently offers its domain marketplace services in English, Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, and Italian. It was founded in 2014 in Amsterdam by Reza Sardeha, Dominic Matheron, and Ali Sardeha. The company has been part of the Rockstart Accelerator program.
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Origins
Undeveloped was founded in 2014 by Reza Sardeha, Dominic Matheron, and Ali Sardeha. According to Sardeha, Undeveloped was founded as a consequence of the experiences of Matheron and the Sardehas in the domain trade. The founders' frustrations with the traditional domain marketplaces originated in a lack of transparency which they argue disempowers the buyer in the process of a domain acquisition. They further argue that the sellers previously were forced to limit their possibilities with the tools provided by traditional domain marketplaces. The vision of the founding was focussed on creating a more transparent domain marketplace which allows for buyers and sellers to directly connect through an open conversation. The business model of Undeveloped is intended to distinguish itself by not relying on advertisement on parking pages in order to make profit but rather only through a commission upon a successful sale of a domain name. The founders expect the difference of the Undeveloped business model to positively affect both buyers and sellers during the domain marketplace experience and process. The Sardehas and Matheron argue, that the Undeveloped domain marketplace aims to offer a more sales-oriented approach which allows for a pleasant experience for both buyers and sellers.
Funding
Undeveloped raised 15k in their seed round in February 2015, and 400k in their second funding round in May 2015. Axivate Capital is the main investor and "is an entrepreneurial private equity firm that backs international growth and value creation for Dutch and European companies in the fields of Digital Media, e-Commerce, Internet". Undeveloped has the intention to expand to 20 additional markets until the end of 2016.
Domain Marketplace
Undeveloped provides a domain marketplace for the sale and buying of domains. The main focus of the platform lies on making unused and undeveloped domain names available to the public through their marketplace. Unused domain names refers to domains which are registered without being developed or used. They are made accessible through Undeveloped's parking pages, and the marketplace directly on their website. Undeveloped sources the publicly available information about these unused domain names from ICANN and through domain sellers which chose Undeveloped as their platform for the sales of the domain names in their portfolio.
Expansion
Undeveloped started out as a Dutch startup within the Dutch domain marketplace market. The startup saw the potential in expansion into different markets and subsequently branched out to Italy. Undeveloped described the launch into the Italian market as a success. In mid-October 2015, Undeveloped launched into the German market. The launch into the Brazilian market is currently under way. Undeveloped aims to launch into 20 other markets until the end of 2016.