Two people who previously ran .club are back at it, this time with .factory.
USA Made in America Inc. has announced an application for the new top-level domain .factory. The company’s announcement marks a notable development in the ongoing expansion of internet domain choices, and it brings familiar leadership back into the new gTLD arena.
At the helm of the new effort are Colin Campbell and Michele Van Tilborg. Campbell is known for founding .Club, and Van Tilborg previously served as president of that same gTLD. Their involvement suggests that the team behind USA Made in America is drawing on prior experience running and marketing a successful domain extension.
The .factory string is already attracting multiple contenders. While it’s common for popular or descriptive strings like .crypto or .agent to draw more than one applicant, .factory is notable because two organizations have publicly announced competing applications after this week’s application deadline. That public announcement makes the contention set more visible than many others, where rival bids sometimes remain undisclosed until later.
One of the other known applicants is Link Freedom Group, a portfolio applicant that filed for a large number of top-level domains. Link Freedom Group has been reported to apply for well over one hundred strings, and .factory appears among them. It is possible that additional companies have submitted applications for .factory as well, but have not made their intentions public.
There is also an update to the broader landscape: the .etc string has been publicly announced by two parties. In that case, it isn’t clear whether one of the announcements represents a primary application or a backup string for a portfolio applicant such as Link Freedom Group. That ambiguity highlights how diverse applicant strategies can be—some organizations file many primary strings, while others name alternative or backup strings as part of a larger portfolio approach.
Campbell spoke about the strategy behind pursuing new gTLDs on industry-focused media, appearing on DNW Podcast #596 to outline his approach and experience. During that conversation he discussed plans and philosophy but did not reveal the specific string he intended to pursue, which aligns with a cautious public-relations approach while applications were being prepared and filed.
USA Made in America has indicated that it intends to raise up to $10 million to support the next phases of its project. Those funds are intended to help resolve contention in the event of competing applications and to cover the costs associated with launching and operating the new top-level domain. Launching a gTLD typically involves a mix of application fees, technical setup, marketing, registry operations, legal and contractual work, and potential contention resolution, all of which can add up depending on how many rivals a string attracts.
For observers of the domain industry, the return of Campbell and Van Tilborg to the gTLD space is significant because it brings experienced operators into a field that has evolved in recent years. Their track record with .Club gives them credibility in managing a community-focused or commercially oriented TLD, and their re-entry raises expectations that .factory will be positioned with specific registry policies, marketing plans, and technical provisioning in mind.
As the community watches how the .factory contention set unfolds, interested parties will be looking to see whether the known applicants resolve their differences through private settlement, go to an auction, or pursue other forms of contention resolution. The outcome will determine who manages the .factory namespace and how it will be promoted and governed once launched.
Until the relevant administrative processes conclude and any fundraising or operational steps are completed, further details about launch timing and registration policies will depend on how the applicants proceed and whether additional contenders come forward.