Dubai-headquartered Radix FZC, the domain registry founded by serial entrepreneurs Bhavin and Divyank Turakhia, has elevated Sandeep Ramchandani, its vice-president and business head, as its new global CEO.
Ramchandani, who has been with Radix since its inception, had earlier worked with another group company, LogicBoxes, which was acquired by US-based cloud-based solutions provider Endurance International Group in 2014.
“Having worked with us since 2003 across various businesses, Sandeep has been an integral part of our journey. He has consistently built talented teams, delivered business results and demonstrated exceptional leadership. We are confident that Sandeep will scale the business rapidly,†said Bhavin Turakhia, the executive chairman of the company.
Radix, launched in 2012, had registered annual revenues of over Rs 80 crore in 2017. The company expects to cross the Rs 100-crore mark in 2018.
According to Ramchandani, India currently has 460 million internet users is estimated to reach 635.8 million by 2021, besides being the third largest startup ecosystem in the world. “It has 42.50 million SMEs but the domain penetration rate in India is 1.1%, compared to 3.6% in China and 43.6% in the US. This gap will soon begin to close and the demand for websites, professional email addresses and domain names, will grow at an even faster pace. Through major retailers like GoDaddy and BigRock, Radix is well positioned to serve this need.â€
The company had bid to operate 31 top level domain extensions, but had won the rights to nine, including .online, .site, .tech, .store, .press and .fun. Radix has sold over 30 lakh domain names to users around the world.
It is a subsidiary of the Directi Group, which houses a group of businesses that develop mass-market web products.
The Turakhia brothers, Bhavin and Divyank, had co-founded Directi Web Technology Pvt. Ltd in 1998 with Rs 25,000 ($600 then). In 2014, Endurance International Group, a provider of cloud-based SMB solutions, had acquired the group’s four businesses, including LogicBoxes, for $160 million.
In August 2017, advertising company Media.net, founded by Divyank Turakhia in 2010, was acquired for $900 million in an all cash deal by a consortium of Chinese investors led by Zhang Zhiyong, the chairman of Beijing Miteno Communication Technology Co.
A serial entrepreneur, Turakhia runs four businesses under the Directi Group: Flock, an enterprise messaging software; Ringo, a telephony service; Zeta, which offers corporate meal vouchers; and Radix.
According to a report by Zinnov, the domain name industry in India has grown by a CAGR of 11.9% between June 2013 and June 2016, compared to the global average of 8.7%.