Escrow.com is a privately held internet escrow company that is well-established in its space and accredited with the Better Business Bureau.
If you’re not familiar, an escrow is a financial and legal agreement designed to protect buyers and sellers in a transaction. For a fee, an independent third party holds payment until everyone is happy with the result of the transaction. Escrow.com fulfills this role by having funds until buyers receive their goods and services.
The Escrow.com domain
The domain name escrow.com was registered in 1994 and, unless its renewed, will expire in 2023. The trademark was first registered with the USPTO in 1999. Freelance Technology Limited is the current trademark owner, and the current status is active.
Company History
Escrow.com, Inc was founded in 1999 by Fidelity National Financial, a Fortune 500 company in Florida.
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. is currently ranked number 288 on FORTUNE’s 2021 list of America’s Largest Companies. FNF primarily deal in insurance & financial services.
In 2015, Freelancer Technology Pty Limited acquired Escrow.com from Fidelity National. At the purchase, Escrow.com had already handled $2.2 billion in transactions.
Freelancer.com Chief Executive Matt Barrie said, “We are pleased to acquire Escrow.com, the world’s largest online escrow company. This highly complementary acquisition will enhance the ability of our 15 million users to transact securely and is a strong cornerstone for entering the payments space”.
Escrow.com President & Managing Director Brandon Abbey said, “We are excited to be joining the Freelancer.com group. Freelancer’s expertise in marketplaces, combined with our expertise in secure online payments, is an excellent strategic fit.”
As of now, Escrow.com’s transactions are nearing $5 billion, and escrow accounts are considered the most secure way to do business.
Other Domains & Trademarks
Now that we’ve looked at Escrow.com’s escrow services, domain, and the escrow.com trademark, we’ll be looking at other domains owned by their parent company, Freelancer Technology Limited. Freelancer technology limited also owns the exclusive rights to at least 50 different trademarks, including mark drawings and logos.
Learn more about domain names and trademarks.
Freelancer.com
Freaalancer.com was founded in 2009, and has its headquarters in Sydney, Australia. It also has offices in Vancouver, London, Buenos Aires, Manila, and Jakarta. Freelancer.com is a marketplace where employers and employees can find each other. The site allows employers to post work for site members who place bids in a competitive tender process.
Freelancer.com’s domain name was registered in 1995. It will expire in 2029 unless it is renewed before then.
LimeExchange.com
LimeExchange.com was a part of Lime Labs LLC, which is a web company focused on creating and delivering user-driven web applications and services. The Lime Labs LLC team brings together some of the most advanced web development minds in the US and India to work on innovative products in community and commerce, focusing on quality design and rapid development practices.
LimeExchange.com offered similar services to Freelancer.com and had over 80,000 freelancers from 223 countries. Freelancer.com acquired LimeExchange for an undisclosed sum and absorbed it into its operations. Now the LimeExchange.com domain name redirects to the freelancer.com web page. LimeExchange was first registered with the trademark office in 2009, with a filing date of 06-24-2009.
“Lime Exchange employers can now access a talent pool of almost 2 million professionals globally, and freelancers can access a project pool with 870,000 projects completed to date.” – Matt Barrie, Freelancer.com’s chief executive.
WarriorForum.com
Warrior Forum is an advertising company that operates an online forum for marketers and entrepreneurs. The company was founded by Clifton Allen in 1997 and is based in Sydney, New South Wales.
Freelancer bought WarriorForum.com in 2014 for a reported $3.2 million. Warrior Forum is still run as an independent arm under the freelancer umbrella. The domain was registered in 2001 and will expire in 2024. The trademark application for Warrior Forum was filed in 2007.
Freemarket.com
Freemarket is an online marketplace that facilitates the exchange of digital goods particularly, websites and domains among technology entrepreneurs, SMEs, investors, web admins, and operators of web properties. On Freemarket, sellers can post both websites & domains and may opt to either put them up for auction or use the “Buy It Now” option. Once listed, interested buyers will bid or buy the asset.
Freelancer acquired Freemarket.com for an undisclosed amount in 2010. The Freemarket trademark filing took place in the same year. The first use was recorded in 2014.
Freemarket.com’s domain was registered in 2003 and will expire in 2023.
Loadshift.com
Loadshift.com is a noticeboard where buyers and sellers of heavy transport deal directly. Loadshift provides cargo owners (Shippers) a free service to get in contact with a nationwide network of different transport providers (Carriers) who can offer you their transport quote.
Loadshift is based in Australia and was acquired by Freelancer for $7.7 million in 2021. Loadshift.com’s domain was registered in 2007.
Scriptlance.com
Scriptlance.com was a competitor of Freelance.com and at one time boasted the title of Canadas largest freelance marketplace.
Headquartered in Toronto, Scriptlance had over 360,000 enterprise and professional users. Incorporated in 2001 as R3N3 International Inc. by the then 20-year old Canadian technology entrepreneur Rene Trescases, Scriptlance was one of the early pioneers in the online outsourcing industry.
Scriptlance, with Alexa rank 3856, would rank 10th for global web traffic in TechVibe’s Canadian Startup Index, in the league of other internationally recognized Canadian brands such as Shopify and Freshbooks.
“We are tremendously excited to acquire Scriptlance, which is truly one of the great trailblazers and most widely recognized brands in the online outsourcing industry,” said Matt Barrie, Chief Executive of Freelancer.com, “Today we launch in Canada, and we couldn’t think of a better way to announce this than by buying one of Canada’s top technology websites.”
The terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed. The domain Scriptlance.com was registered in 2001 and will expire in 2022. Scriptlance.com now redirects to Freelancer.com.
Freelance.de
Freelance.de is the german offshoot of Freelance.com, offering a digital marketplace for freelancers and businesses to come together. All sectors are catered to. Freelance.de offers you access to a comprehensive project and freelancer database. Freelance.de is becoming one of the biggest freelance platforms in the European Union.
Freelance.de’s domain was registered in 2010.
Nubelo.com
Nubelo.com was a career marketplace for the digital workforce. Nubelo would work with clients to understand their project/team needs and custom-match them with pre-screened professionals who could join their teams on a full-time, part-time or hourly basis. Nubelo was headquartered in Barcelona and Buenos Aires. Freelancer acquired the legal rights to Nubelo in 2016 after the company was founded in 2012 by Spanish entrepreneur Francesc Font.
Nubelo.com was first registered in 2011 and will expire in 2022 unless renewed before then. Nubelo.com has merged with Freelancer completely and now redirects to Freelance.com with the message “Nubelo is now freelancer.com.” The terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Wrapping up
Just like your personal property, intellectual property can be worth a fortune. Domain names, service marks, and other property that can be subject to trademark registration can run into the millions (if not billions) in terms of value. You can only protect this valuable property by registering it appropriately.
Escrow.com, inc is owned by Freelancer Technology Pty Limited, which undoubtedly see the value in trademarking their intellectual property as they are the trademark owner of at least 50 different marks.
