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- Donuts
Donuts Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Donuts was acquired by Ethos Capital for $1.8B in January 2021.
Donuts acquisition price
$1.8B
Acquired by Ethos Capital · Jan 2021
Cumulative funding Donuts raised
$54M
across 1 funding round
Key investors in Donuts
TL Ventures
About Donuts
Donuts is a Seattle-based domain name registry that holds one of the world's largest portfolios of top-level domains, including extensions such as .ltd, .company, .careers, and .support. Founded in 2010 by domain industry veterans Paul Stahura, Jon Nevett, Richard Tindal, and Daniel Schindler, the company also owns Name.com, a retail domain registrar, and built its business around a predictable, renewal-based subscription model. Donuts later combined with fellow TLD registry operator Afilias to form one of the largest domain name platforms globally, and was renamed Identity Digital in 2022.
Founded
2010
HQ
Website
Status
Acquired
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Product sales
Valuation
$1.8B (acquired Jan 2021)
Donuts Acquisition
Donuts was acquired by Ethos Capital for $1.8B on 28 January 2021.
Before the acquisition Donuts had raised $54M across 1 funding round.
Donuts Inc., based in Seattle, holds the world’s largest portfolio of top-level domains (TLDs) and provides services for individuals and organizations to promote digital identities. Ethos Capital, a private equity firm focused on middle-market companies with expertise in digital infrastructure, acquired a controlling or majority stake in Donuts from Abry Partners. The deal closed in March 2021, valued at $925 million, and was recognized as a Middle-Market Deal of the Year by Mergers & Acquisitions magazine. Ethos' co-CEOs Erik Brooks and Fadi Chehadé have prior experience in the domain industry, including leading Abry’s 2018 acquisition of Donuts. The transaction followed Ethos' initial investment in Donuts in 2020, which supported Donuts' acquisition of Afilias, a leading TLD registry operator, creating a combined entity with the largest TLD portfolio globally. Ethos' investor group, including The Baupost Group and funds managed by Neuberger Berman, now controls Donuts' board to drive future growth through operational excellence and responsible strategies. Donuts' CEO Akram Atallah emphasized Ethos' fit to support reliability, security, stability, and expansion amid rising digital identity value. Post-acquisition, Donuts focused on integrating Afilias' technical assets to build a next-generation platform. In June 2022, Donuts Inc. was renamed Identity Digital.
| Acquirer | Date | Type | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan 2021 | PE buyout | $1.8B |
Donuts Funding History
Donuts has raised a total of $54M across 1 funding round.
Donuts funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2015 | Series C | TL Ventures (lead) | $54M |
Who has invested in Donuts?
1 investor has backed Donuts across its funding rounds, including TL Ventures.
Lead investors include TL Ventures.
Donuts Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 1 Donuts investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Donuts
Donuts has acquired 3 companies to date.
Last acquisition by Donuts was on November 19th 2020. Donuts acquired Afilias for undisclosed valuation.
Latest Acquisitions by Donuts
| Description | Afilias is a Dublin-headquartered domain registry managing over 20 million domain names across top-level domains like .info, .org, and emerging city, brand, and generic TLDs. The company provides backend services for hundreds of new gTLDs, alongside Managed DNS, goMobi mobile Web optimization, and DeviceAtlas device detection. Afilias supports global Internet infrastructure with high-availability platforms serving registrars and end-users worldwide. | dotTravel .Travel Domains is the registry operator for the .travel top-level domain. Launched in 2007, it restricts registrations to verified travel industry entities including airlines, hotels, tour operators, and agencies. The San Diego-headquartered organization manages over 100,000 .travel domains worldwide. Eligible registrants undergo identity verification via the IANA Travel ID system before accessing sunrise and general availability phases. | Rightside operates a domain registry and solutions platform supporting new top-level domains beyond .com and .net. It provides personalized domain names and tools for resellers, registrars, registries, and investors to expand online storytelling, commerce, and innovation. |
| HQ Country | |||
| HQ City | Dublin | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Seattle, WA |
| Deal Date | 19 Nov 2020 | 14 Feb 2018 | 14 Jun 2017 |
| Valuation | undisclosed | undisclosed | $213M |
| EV/Revenue | |||
| EV/EBITDA | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Donuts acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | |||
Investments by Donuts
Donuts has invested in 4 companies to date.
Latest investment by Donuts was on April 2nd 2020. Donuts invested in Jiraffe in their $6M Series C round.
Latest Investments by Donuts
| Description | Jiraffe is a Tokyo-based firm specializing in Internet service planning, development, and operations management. The company builds and maintains web platforms for Japanese businesses, emphasizing scalable infrastructure and user-centric design. Jiraffe handles full lifecycle services from concept to deployment and ongoing support. | Netki is a blockchain identity verification platform enabling KYC and AML compliance for cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets. San Francisco-headquartered, it provides API-driven solutions like ID.me integrations and document authentication for mass-market adoption. Launched in 2014, Netki partners with wallets such as BitPay and exchanges to process millions of verifications annually. | GeoFrenzy is a provider of geospatial context platforms enabling autonomous decisions for applications and devices through smart geofencing. The company operates the first public geofence registry and Fence Delivery Network, gridding the planet at centimeter resolution. GeoFrenzy's patented FDN caches over 50,000 geofences locally via DNS for real-time access on mobile networks globally since 2015. Headquartered in San Francisco, it supports drone operations in federal airspace and virtual property entitlements. | Nagisa Inc. is a Tokyo-based developer of mobile applications enabling group messaging, voice calls, and sharing of photos and videos among users. Launched in 2010 by Yoshiyuki Yokoyama, the platform supports real-time communication features for social and professional groups in Japan. |
| HQ Country | ||||
| HQ City | Tokyo | Los Angeles, CA | San Francisco, CA | Tokyo |
| Deal Date | 2 Apr 2020 | 5 Jul 2016 | 28 Apr 2016 | 15 May 2014 |
| Round | Series C | Seed | Seed | Series A |
| Raised | $6M | $4M | $1M | $1M |
| Investors | Resona Bank; DG VENTURES; OLM Ventures; Mizuho Financial Group; DK Gate; Yoshidamasaki; AG Capital | Plug and Play; Colle Capital Partners; Tom Turney; Digital Currency Group; Oreilly AlphaTech Ventures; Base Ventures; Bitfinex; The Husseini Group; Argonautic Ventures | Manatt Venture Fund | - |
| Valuation | undisclosed | undisclosed | undisclosed | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | ||||
| EV/EBITDA | ||||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Donuts investments and their VC round multiples. Start Free Trial | ||||
Donuts Competitors
Donuts competitors include listed companies like Servyou Software Group and Shanghai DZH, and private ones like MX Technologies, TRM Labs, Capitolis and Matrixport.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | - | - | $1.9B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $2B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1.6B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1.5B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $306M | $35M | $2.3B | 6.6x | ||
| Publicly listed | $123M | ($545K) | $2.4B | - |
Donuts Public Comps
Donuts is no longer listed, but its public comps include National Securities, Servyou Software Group, Shanghai DZH, CARE Ratings, GlobalData, TP ICAP, Finatext, Value Line, HCR Co and CTOS Digital.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $159M | $48M | 9.4x | 8.5x | 31.6x | - | |||
| $306M | $35M | 7.4x | 6.6x | 64.6x | 44.3x | |||
| $123M | ($545K) | 18.1x | - | (4082.3x) | - | |||
| $49M | $21M | 9.2x | 9.9x | 21.5x | 20.5x | |||
| $433M | $140M | 1.7x | 1.7x | 5.3x | 5.0x | |||
| $3.2B | $502M | 0.1x | 0.1x | 0.7x | 0.6x | |||
| $71M | $13M | 6.3x | 5.4x | 34.1x | - | |||
| $33M | $29M | 8.5x | - | 10.0x | - | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Donuts competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about Donuts
| When was Donuts founded? | Donuts was founded in 2010. |
| Where is Donuts headquartered? | Donuts is headquartered in Seattle, WA, United States. |
| Is Donuts publicly listed? | No, Donuts was acquired by Ethos Capital in January 2021. |
| Who acquired Donuts? | Donuts was acquired by Ethos Capital in January 2021. |
| How much was Donuts acquired for? | Donuts was acquired for $1.8B in January 2021. |
| How much funding has Donuts raised? | Donuts has raised $54M across 1 funding round. |
| What was Donuts' last funding round? | Donuts' last funding round was a $54M Series C in April 2015, led by TL Ventures. |
| Who are Donuts' investors? | Donuts' investors include TL Ventures. |
| Which companies are comparable to Donuts? | Companies comparable to Donuts include MX Technologies, TRM Labs, Capitolis, Matrixport, Servyou Software Group and Shanghai DZH. |
| How many companies has Donuts acquired? | Donuts has acquired 3 companies, including Afilias, dotTravel .Travel Domains and Rightside. |
| What was the largest acquisition by Donuts? | The $213M acquisition of Rightside in June 2017 is the largest acquisition Donuts has made to date. |
| How many companies has Donuts invested in? | Donuts has invested in 4 companies, including Jiraffe, Netki, GeoFrenzy and Nagisa. |
| What was Donuts' last investment? | In April 2020, Donuts invested in Jiraffe's $6M Series C alongside Resona Bank, DG VENTURES, OLM Ventures and 4 other investors. |
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