Loom's Strategic Acquisition of the Loom.com Domain

In 2017, the company known as Opentest rebranded to Loom, a name that symbolized their mission of “weaving” conversations and aimed to become a verb (“send me a ‘loom’”). Despite most domains and social handles being taken, they pressed forward and registered @useloom, building their brand on this handle from 2017 through most of 2018.

As Loom’s user base grew, confusion with another company named Loom that offered a different product but also provided chat support became problematic. With the influx of new funding from their Series A round, Loom aimed to establish themselves as the definitive “Loom” in the market. This led to a quest to acquire the Loom.com domain, which was owned by a public SaaS company that had acquired it through a previous acquisition and had since left it inactive.

Initial negotiations involved an offer of $50,000, though it was known the domain’s market value was over $400,000. Eventually, the SaaS company agreed to sell the domain for $75,000. However, during the process, another startup expressed interest in the domain and was prepared to offer up to $500,000.

In a fortunate turn of events, Loom managed to negotiate directly with the competing startup’s CEO, offering $75,000 upfront to cover rebranding costs, convincing them to withdraw from the negotiation. Consequently, Loom secured the domain for $150,000, a fraction of its appraised value, solidifying their brand identity and market position.