Invests $50 million in Auction.com — Google Capital

Firm that invested $1.7 million in great domain name in 2009 gets $50 million infusion from Google Capital.

Google Capital has invested $50 million in real estate auction firm Auction.com.

I don’t usually write regarding fundraising by firms with great domain names. It takes a lot more than a great domain name to build a good business. In fact, what is now Auction.com was by now a fast growing business ahead of it had the domain name.

Still, Real Estate Disposition Corporation’s $1.7 million purchase of the Auction.com domain name in 2009 was a smart move that gave the firm greater credibility. Until then it operated at the domain name USHomeAuction.com.

With all of the misinformation and questionable practices in the home auctioning business following the downturn, owning Auction.com gave the firm credibility that simply wasn’t there with USHomeAuction.com.

Which is why seeing this ad (pictured) on my local newspaper caught my attention. I wouldn’t have paid any attention had it merely read USHomeAuction.

[The original version of this article referred to Google Ventures. The investment was actually made by Google Capital.]