Fresh TLD applicants want you to know they have lots of cash for auctions…

But just how much? They don’t want you to know.

Last night when I received Donuts’ press release regarding a follow on investment I had to re-read it a few times.

While the press release didn’t divulge exactly how much the firm raised, it did say that the fresh funds “nearly doubles our capacity to compete” in fresh TLD auctions.

The firm previously disclosed a $100 million raise. So does “nearly doubles” mean it raise another $100 million?

I don’t think so.

The firm applied for 307 domain names at a cost of $185,000 each. That means it spent close to $60 million on applications alone. So lets say it had $40 million left. That means the firm may have just doubled its auction warchest by raising “just” $40 million.

It’s not chump change, and I’m sure Donuts raised a lot of cash.

But now we’re at the part of the fresh TLD game where applicants want to scare off competitors. By throwing out general terms like “doubling”, competitors might be more scared than they need to be.

In February portfolio applicant Top Level Domain Holdings disclosed it had secured up to $15 million to bid on a single domain name. It likely didn’t name the TLD for competitive reasons, but by leaving it up in the air it achieved another benefit: competitors have to worry regarding going up against a $15 million bid on any of the domains TLDH is applying for.

If you’re applying for a TLD that TLDH is also applying for, and you’re modest fish, now you need to think regarding if you’re going to go through the entire process only to face the one domain for which TLDH has earmarked $15 million.

There’s a big chess game going on right now. Expect applicants to give some of the story when it benefits them, but to leave just enough out to keep their competitors guessing…