iQ

What iQ does

iQ Global AS is a Norwegian private cybersecurity and business intelligence company serving the domain name industry. The company builds an AI-powered platform that monitors DNS abuse, assesses domain risk, and delivers analytics and competitive intelligence to TLD registries, registrars, hosting providers, and enterprise security teams. Its product suite includes iQ Abuse Manager (monitoring 230M+ domains daily across phishing, malware, botnet, scam, spam, and hacked-site threats), iQ Risk Score (an AI-driven risk classification API trained on 100M+ historical threat reports), iQ Managed Abuse (outsourced abuse handling with ICANN Spec 11.3B reporting), iQ Domain Analytics (transaction, campaign, and registrar analytics), and iQ Price Tracker (TLD pricing data across 180+ retailers).

All products are powered by the iQ Domain Intelligence Platform, a central API hub launched commercially in April 2025 that delivers DNS records, WHOIS/RDAP, screenshots, risk scoring, and subdomain discovery via REST API and Model Context Protocol (MCP) for AI agent integration. The company's AI stack combines a proprietary Abuse Repository, 12 curated threat feeds, and OpenAI generative models (10B+ tokens processed) to deliver explainable risk scoring and NLP-driven abuse report automation (KARA). Revenue is generated through tiered monthly SaaS subscriptions (Abuse Manager from $60/mo, Domain Analytics $240–$400/mo, Price Tracker $50–$1,000/mo), managed services, and consulting engagements including ICANN gTLD application advisory targeting the April 2026 application window. Go-to-market is sales-led with self-service onboarding for the Abuse Manager trial, complemented by content marketing and industry community engagement (i2Coalition, ICANN meetings, DNS Symposium).

The company is privately held, headquartered in Oslo, employs 1–10 people, and is led by domain-industry veterans including CEO Michael B. Halvorsen (co-founder of .global, Active 24, CloudNames), COO Su Wu, and CTO LG Forsberg (formerly of .SE). Swedish Internet Foundation is a disclosed investor.

Name

iQ

Legal name

iQ Global AS

Website

https://iq.global

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

iQ Global is a Norwegian AI-powered cybersecurity and business intelligence platform serving TLD registries, registrars, and domain industry participants with domain abuse monitoring, risk scoring, analytics, and pricing intelligence products.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Domain Security & Intelligence Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Responsible AI, Security & Privacy Platforms (Safety, Guardrails, PII) (HDAEANAG)

Keywords

• Domain abuse monitoring
• DNS security SaaS
• Registry analytics platform
• Domain risk scoring
• TLD pricing intelligence

Headquarters

HQ city

Oslo

HQ country

Norway

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription - Abuse Manager: Tiered subscription pricing based on number of domains monitored per month. Starts from $60/month. Includes threat intelligence reports, multiple threat types, technical integration, and scalable platform.
2. SaaS Subscription - Domain Analytics: Two-tier subscription model: Standard ($240/month) includes TLD Dashboard, date range reports, and registrar scorecards; Premium ($400/month) adds campaign ROI reports, premium name reports, and renewal rate reports.
3. SaaS Subscription - Price Tracker: Unit-based pricing based on number of price profiles (TLD x Retailer combinations). Ranges from $50/month (50 profiles) to $1,000/month (1,250 profiles). Includes access to current data with optional historical data access for enterprise tier.
4. Consulting Services: Advisory services leveraging 100+ years of combined domain industry experience. Covers strategy, go-to-market, premium names, registry operations, compliance, and abuse management consulting.
5. gTLD Consultancy Services: Expert consulting for ICANN gTLD application process including strategic assessment, application development, technical implementation, contention resolution, and launch strategy. ICANN Round 2 application window expected April 2026.
6. Managed Abuse Services: Fully managed anti-abuse services where iQ's security and policy experts handle abuse case management, investigation, and mitigation on behalf of TLD registries. Includes monthly reporting and ICANN Spec 11.3b compliant reports.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

iQ Global is a software and consulting company that sells AI-powered cybersecurity and business intelligence SaaS products to the domain name industry. Its core cybersecurity offerings (Abuse Manager, Risk Score, Managed Abuse, Abuse Scan) monitor 230M+ domains daily for phishing, malware, botnet, scam, spam, and hacked sites; its intelligence products (Domain Analytics, Price Tracker, Domain Intelligence Platform, Market Intelligence) deliver registry analytics and TLD pricing insights. The company also provides consulting and gTLD application advisory services to TLD registries and registrars.

Product overview

iQ Global operates a unified platform combining AI-powered cybersecurity and business intelligence tools for the domain industry. The core cybersecurity suite includes iQ Abuse Manager (domain abuse monitoring and case management SaaS), iQ Risk Score (AI-driven domain risk assessment), iQ Managed Abuse (fully managed anti-abuse service), and iQ Abuse Scan (continuous threat scanning). The business intelligence portfolio comprises iQ Domain Analytics (registry analytics with transaction analysis, campaign tracking, and namespace management) and iQ Price Tracker (TLD pricing intelligence across 180+ retailers). These products are powered by the iQ Domain Intelligence Platform, a central API hub that provides comprehensive domain data including DNS records, registration intelligence, screenshots, and risk scoring. Additional offerings include iQ Market Intelligence (competitive intelligence service) and KARA (AI agent for abuse report automation). The platform also provides gTLD consultancy services for ICANN applications and general domain industry consulting.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• iQ Abuse Manager SaaS platform for monitoring, managing, and automating domain abuse cases at scale. Provides dashboards, email reports, bulk tools, audit trails, statistics, and REST API integration. Monitors 230M+ domains daily for phishing, malware, botnet, scam, spam, and hacked sites. Targeted at TLD registries and registrars needing ICANN Spec 11.3B-compliant reporting.
• iQ Risk Score AI-driven domain risk scoring API that evaluates domain name risk at registration. Trained on 100M+ historical threat reports using linguistic analysis, string entropy, typosquatting/homoglyph detection, trademark similarity, abuse affix analysis, and DGA detection. Returns a benign/malicious classification with confidence score and transparent reasoning. Targets registrars, registries, and security teams.
• iQ Managed Abuse Fully managed anti-abuse service in which iQ's security and policy experts monitor, assess, investigate, and mitigate DNS abuse cases on behalf of TLD operators. Includes monthly reporting and ICANN Spec 11.3b compliant reports. Targets TLD registries seeking outsourced abuse handling capacity.
• iQ Abuse Scan Continuous scanning service that delivers instant threat alerts on phishing, malware, botnet, scam, spam, and hacked sites targeting customer domains. Targeted at registrars and registries needing always-on monitoring within their portfolio.
• iQ Domain Analytics Business intelligence and analytics platform for the domain industry, including transaction analyser, campaign tracker, namespace management, registrar management, featured-sites management, retail price logger, and domain valuation engine. Exposed through a portal and API for registry websites. Targets TLD registries needing industry-specific analytics.
• iQ Price Tracker TLD pricing intelligence tool monitoring create, renew, and transfer prices from 180+ retailers worldwide across 2,000+ TLDs, with 75,000+ unique price points and 600,000+ historical price points refreshed every 24 hours. Priced by number of TLD x Retailer price profiles tracked. Targets TLD registries, registrars, and resellers benchmarking competitive pricing.
• iQ Domain Intelligence Platform Central API hub providing production-grade domain intelligence via a single call, delivering DNS records, WHOIS/RDAP registration data, screenshots, risk scoring, subdomain discovery, and historical snapshots. Available via REST API and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for AI agent integration; processes 10,000+ domains/minute sustained, 100,000+/minute capable. Targets developers, security teams, and infrastructure providers.
• iQ Market Intelligence Competitive intelligence service for the domain industry, delivering customised reports on competitors, markets, and TLDs on a configurable cadence (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly) using AI agents to execute intelligence workflows from data collection through analysis to delivery. Currently in pilot with founding customers; covers 16 European markets and 150+ competitors across 186 monitored TLDs.
• KARA (Knowledgeable Abuse Report Assistant) AI agent product that applies natural language processing to transform unstructured emails and chat interactions into structured, actionable abuse reports for abuse teams. Automatically extracts and validates evidence from natural language inputs. Targets registry and registrar abuse desks seeking to automate report triage.
• iQ Consulting Strategic consulting services leveraging 100+ years of combined domain industry expertise, covering strategy, sales and marketing, premium names assets, registry frontend optimisation, ICANN compliance, and abuse management. Targets registries, registrars, and brands operating in or adjacent to the domain industry.
• gTLD Consultancy Expert consulting for ICANN gTLD applications, including strategic assessment, application development, technical implementation, contention resolution strategy, and launch support. Positioned for ICANN Round 2 with the application window expected April 2026. Targets organisations evaluating a $227,000+ gTLD application.

Quantifiable outcome

• 230M+ domains monitored daily with 200M+ scans per day
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability10 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• LK Domain RegistrycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 February 2026LK Domain Registry (sole administrator of Sri Lanka's country-code top-level domain .LK) partnered with iQ Global to strengthen monitoring and protection of the .LK namespace against abuse. The partnership enables proactive identification of abusive domains, tracking of abuse cases from detection to resolution, and analysis of repeated or high-risk abuse patterns. Goal is to create a safer online environment for .LK domain customers with timely notifications about blacklisting events.
• Public Interest Registry (PIR)coreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 October 2025PIR extended their IWF sponsorship program to registrars, providing free access to Internet Watch Foundation's CSAM detection tools. iQ provides free access to iQ Abuse Manager for registrars participating in this program. Since PIR launched the sponsorship in February 2024, 30 registries have actively used IWF's Domain Alerts and TLD Hopping List to detect and disrupt CSAM on their domains, protecting more than 53 million domains across 60 TLDs.
• Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 February 2024iQ integrated with IWF threat intelligence feeds for CSAM detection. IWF data is accessible only by authorized users with explicit CSAM permissions (defaults to OFF), with end-to-end encryption and strict access control. The integration enables registrars to detect CSAM on their domains as part of PIR's sponsorship program.
• RebrandlyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRebrandly partnered with iQ Global to bring AI-enabled trust and safety to digital branding. This collaboration aims to set new standards for secure and trustworthy digital brand management.
• Reputable DomainscoreStrategic or Co-development PartneriQ Global founded Reputable Domains, an independent initiative creating a human-verified whitelist platform to prevent false flagging of legitimate brands. Verified brand-domain associations are distributed to abuse report producers and receivers worldwide. The platform provides free access for abuse desks to verified brand data.

Scale indicators18 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• DomainTools: DomainTools is a leading domain intelligence and threat investigation platform providing WHOIS, DNS, and risk data. Directly comparable to iQ's Domain Intelligence Platform and Risk Score offerings for security researchers and enterprise teams.
• WhoisXML API: WhoisXML API provides domain data, WHOIS history, and threat intelligence APIs. Direct competitor in the domain intelligence and risk data API space, with similar API-first distribution model to iQ's Domain Intelligence Platform.
• SecurityTrails: SecurityTrails offers DNS intelligence, historical domain data, and surface mapping APIs. Direct competitor in the DNS and domain intelligence market, particularly relevant to iQ's Domain Intelligence Platform positioning.
• CSC (Corporate Services Company): CSC provides domain security, brand protection, and registry/registrar services for enterprise. They offer domain monitoring and threat detection solutions comparable to iQ's Abuse Manager, particularly for Fortune 500 brand protection.
• BrandShield: BrandShield provides digital risk protection and brand protection from phishing, fraud, and counterfeiting. Comparable to iQ's risk scoring and abuse detection capabilities, especially for brand-related domain abuse.
• PhishLabs (Fortra): PhishLabs (now part of Fortra) provides threat intelligence and phishing/fraud detection services. Direct competitor in the DNS abuse and phishing detection space that iQ's Abuse Manager addresses.

Broad incumbents

• Akamai (DNS Security / Abuse): Akamai is a major CDN and security provider with DNS security and threat intelligence offerings. While not domain-industry specialized, they serve overlapping enterprise security buyers and could expand into iQ's niche.
• Cloudflare (Security): Cloudflare offers broad internet security and DNS services. While not focused on domain abuse specifically, their security portfolio and registrar services (Cloudflare Registrar) could compete with iQ's offerings over time.

Regional players

• PIR (Public Interest Registry): Public Interest Registry (.org operator) is both an iQ partner and a registry that addresses DNS abuse through initiatives like the IWF sponsorship. While not a direct software competitor, PIR is an industry actor that influences the abuse management ecosystem iQ serves.
• CentralNic Registry: CentralNic Registry operates multiple TLDs and is a competitor in domain registry services. Former employer of iQ's consultant Kelly Hardy, CentralNic is a registry customer/partner that builds some internal domain intelligence capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/iqglobalas
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/iqglobal

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about iQ