Directi

Type:	Privately Held
Industry:	Internet
Founded:	Mumbai, India, 1998
Founder(s):	Bhavin Turakhia Divyank Turakhia
Headquarters:	Directiplex, Next to Andheri Subway, Old Nagardas Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai, Maharashtra 400069
Businesses:	Skenzo Radix .pw The Professional Web
Employees:	1,000+
Website:	Directi.com
Twitter:	@Directi
Key People
Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and CEO Divyank Turakhia, Co-founder and President Sandeep Ramchandani, Dir. Strategic Partnerships

Directi, which was founded in 1998, comprises a group of tech businesses owned, operated or invested in by Bhavin Turakhia and Divyank Turakhia. Directi was the first ICANN accredited registrar in India. The head office of Directi is in Mumbai, India, with subdivision offices in Delhi and Bengaluru; Dubai; New York; Los Angeles; Zurich; and Ras al Khaimah, UAE.

Directi services include communication and collaboration apps, social networking software, instant messaging, context analysis engines, anti-spam and antivirus solutions, large-scale billing and provisioning platforms, traffic monetization solutions, online advertising solutions, and much more.

In 2014, Directi sold a number of its web presence businesses to Endurance International Group, including ResellerClub, LogicBoxes, webhosting.info, and BigRock.

Across its existing portfolio, Directi employs more than 1500 people across eight offices, with more than 9 million customers, revenues of more than $250 million and a group enterprise value of more than $1.4 billion.

New gTLD Applications

In a press release, Directi announced its more than $30 million investment for its application for 31 new generic top level domain names (gTLDs) with ICANN's new gTLD expansion program. The company established Radix to serve as the applicant and eventual registry operator for all the proposed 31 gTLDs, which are: .web, .shop, .bank, .law, .music, .news, .blog, .movie, .baby,.store, .doctor, .hotel, .play, .home, .site, .website, .click, .online, .one, .ping, .space, .world, .press, .chat, .city, .deals, .insurance, .loans, .app, .host and .hosting.

Directi CEO Bhavin Turakhia anticipated string contention on the domain name strings. He said that his company is open to strategic partnerships with other parties. He said, "I expect there to be contention in all of them. Whether they will end up going to auction… we’re completely open to strategic partnerships with other industry players who we believe can add value and join hands with us, based on merit. We’ll be evaluating this on a case by case basis."

Businesses

Directi has many businesses, including:

• Skenzo - Skenzo provides traffic monetization and domain parking services.
• Radix - In March, 2012, it was announced that Directi would be launching a new gTLD entity that would be applying for and running new extensions.
• .pw The Professional Web - Directi has relaunched the .pw ccTLD as an Open ccTLD, targeting a professional audience with the acronym "Professional Web". It became the company's first active experience as a TLD registry.
• Ringo
• Flock
• Zeta
• Codechef

Directi also manages second level domains in the .pw namespace. .pw is the ccTLD for Palau, and there is currently no registration process for higher level domain names in that namespace.

Awards

• Directi has won the PinkSlip Choice Award for the “most innovative recruitment advertisement" in 2008.
• Directi was ranked 13th in the Deloitte and Touche Fast 50 list in 2007.

Directiplex

Directiplex is a 8 floor facility that has been built to meet the increasing needs of Directi. It is spread across an area of 120,000 square feet and has the capacity for 1500 employees. Directiplex has an employee restaurant, a gaming center, and a bowling alley in the building. It was inaugrated in 2009.

External links

• Skenzo
• CodeChef
• Bhavin's Blog