Donuts raises $100 million, applies for 307 fresh TLDs

Flush with cash, fresh TLD applicant applies for 307 top level domains.

Every week I check the SEC filings to see if Paul Stahura’s fresh TLD startup, Donuts, has raised more money. But every time I check there’s still just a filing regarding the $1 million it raised.

And that number seemed just regarding right, since Stahura has gone on the record saying the firm planned to apply for 10 top level domains.

But today it dropped a shocker. The Wall Street Journal notes that the firm raised $100 million in financing and is applying for a whopping 307 top level domain names.

Update: read my conversation with Donuts here.

The investment was led by Austin Ventures with Adams Street Partners, Emergence Capital, TL Ventures, Generation Partners, Stahurricane (Stahura’s own venture fund) and a number of smaller investors.

Mason Cole, formerly with Oversee.net, has joined Donuts. So has former ICANN CFO Kevin Wilson.

Also interesting is that Donuts is working with Demand Media for its registry backend services. Stahura sold eNom to Demand Media back in 2006. This is another shocker since Demand Media noted only picking up a modest handful of registry clients. When it stated that everyone assumed it was for just a few TLDs. But clearly that’s not the case. It also suggests that Demand Media worked with Donuts to make sure there was no overlap in what they are applying for. I can find no mention of Demand Media backing Donuts or that the $18 million Demand Media invested in fresh TLDs was actually a partnership with Donuts. The question remains: is Demand Media applying for any TLDs on its own?

I think I can sum this up with one word:

Wow.