Domain Name Exchange Platform Protrada Raises $3 Million

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last few months then you’ve probably heard a lot of buzz about Protrada. I’ve been working with the Protrada team since they’ve been in beta and honestly, the platform blew my mind since day one. Protrada has set-out to create a system for buying, selling, and monetizing domain names that speaks to traditional investors as well as Domainers. Their interface is second-to-none and the automation tools they have can save a ton of time on tasks that are typically very manual.

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Protrada was started by serial entrepreneur Troy Rushton who has assembled an incredible team that isn’t afraid to push the limits and really do something different. I was very excited to see a press release hit my inbox last night announcing that Winged Media (Protrada’s Parent Company) just raised three million dollars from the Carnegie Fund.

“We are delighted with the investment from the Carnegie Fund and how this will further help us rollout the Protrada platform. Together we believe we can push the boundaries of the technology and entrepreneurial capabilities of the team, showcasing Winged Media’s IP in an easy-to-use domain trading service.” (Troy Rushton, CEO – Protrada)

Protrada has a large development team already and something tells me it is going to grow even more with this funding. This is what impressed me so much about Protrada from the very beginning, they knew how important strong development talent was and didn’t flinch at making this investment up front. Along with stellar developers Protrada’s focus on customer development and learning from their users is akin to the Lean Startup Methodology I’ve been such a fan of this year. Protrada is constantly getting feedback from their users and using this to iterate and improve their software.

This is also a great sign for our industry as a whole as major funding partners like the Carnegie Fund are really starting to see the potential in the space, and most importantly, domains as an asset class.

“Domaining has increased its momentum throughout 2011, with activity levels outperforming the NASDAQ during key periods. With the introduction of the Winged Media IP into the domain trading experience, we believe that the sector will continue to develop and be acknowledged as an emerging asset class,” (Mark Carnegie, Principal, M.H. Carnegie & Co.)

Of course, the moment I heard this news I booked a Quantas flight and made my way out to Australia to celebrate with the Protrada team. Here’s a picture of us celebrating this exciting news together!

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Okay, I was just kidding about flying-out there, just wanted to see who was paying attention! The picture above is from a couple of months ago when I had the chance to meet up with Protrada during one of their trips to the West Coast. Huge congratulations to Protrada – well deserved and as usual, I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

Oh and if you haven’t tried Protrada yet…what the heck are you waiting for? Try Protrada for free right now!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton