Techcrunch is my guide to domain investment. As it seeks out and reports on upcoming unicorn startups around the world, I ride on it by studying the corporate domains of these companies to see direction in domain usage. One startup that caught my attention last week is The CareVoice.
This Shanghai-based health insurance platform competes with a new wave of Chinese startups banking on this second largest insurance market in the world. The CareVoice deploys cutting-edge technologies such as AI and big data to match consumers with health insurance providers. Since founding, it has received investments totaling $13 million. Last year, it entered the Hong Kong market and has announced plans to expand throughout Asia.
The corporate domain of The CareVoice is the brand-matching TheCareVoice.com. While the domain was registered in 2013, the company was set up in 2014 and Wayback Machine shows the domain’s first use in 2014. Therefore, it’s highly likely the company invested only about $10 to register the domain. Despite this cheap digital address, the startup is well positioned as a global player because the domain is brand-matching, based on simple, English words, and using the .com extension. This makes the brand/domain easy to remember both inside China and around the world.
The company has a Chinese brand: 康语 (Kang Yu = telling of health). However, it apparently does not own the matching KangYu.com (which is not developed). TheCareVoice.com is their corporate domain inside China. So, this example suggests that it is viable for Chinese companies to focus on their English brand and matching .com domain.
How much would it cost to buy a physical address and set up your store which is local? How much would it cost to buy a digital address (domain) and set up your store which is global? The answer is clear. This era is about the digital world and therefore global business. Anyone can start a global business at a $10 domain. Just make sure the domain matches your brand and preferably follow the EnglishDotDom domain strategy – English-based name on .com extension.
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Terrible domain.