dotKiwi - A Patriotic New gTLD

HEXONET's North American office is based in beautiful Vancouver, Canada.  Vancouver has a flourishing start-up scene and is home to several prominent tech companies like HootSuite, PEER 1 Network Enterprises and Electronic Arts.  We recently had the opportunity to meet a new start-up that is launching a new gTLD (generic Top-Level Domain) with a very patriotic flavour. Canadian patriotism you might ask? Not exactly. Although the drive behind this new venture is based here in Vancouver, its real roots are based 12,000 kms away in Christchurch, New Zealand.  On February 22, 2011 a powerful earthquake struck New Zealand's second largest city of Christchurch. It caused significant damage and killed over 185 people. Tim Johnson, a Vancouver-based expat New Zealander, who moved to Vancouver in 2008, was shocked to see the extensive damage done to his hometown of Christchurch. This tragic event truly resonated with Tim and he decided to do something that could really help the people of Christchurch. Tim, who has a background in software development and technology business management, teamed up with some other prominent expat New Zealanders to form Dot Kiwi. Dot Kiwi has just submitted its application to ICANN to become the registry for the .kiwi (dotKiwi) gTLD. There are over one million Kiwi expats around the world. "I was keen to provide a way for New Zealanders around the world to connect and claim their Kiwiness online. I could also see a great opportunity to provide ongoing financial support for the rebuilding of Christchurch." says CEO Tim Johnson. Kiwis will be able to wave the flag and claim their own online identify as an alternative to existing TLDs like .COM.  A percentage of Dot Kiwi's revenues and profit before tax from the sale of .kiwi domains will be donated to a trust established to provide funds for the rebuild of Christchurch. Dot Kiwi has assembled a very strong team including Board of Director Peter Dengate Thrush, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of ICANN. It is great to see this kind of innovation coming out of Vancouver and we wish Tim and his team every success moving forward.