Attraqt

The problem

Once a retailer had an online shop, the next question was which products a shopper should see, and in what order. Site search and merchandising, the tools that answer that question, were poorly served by the early e-commerce platforms. Locayta, founded in early 2003 and later renamed Attraqt, built software to do that job for online retailers.

The approach

Attraqt sold search, navigation and visual-merchandising tools that let a retailer's merchandising team control what appeared on a page in the way a shop manager controls a window display, rather than leaving the order of products to a database. It grew as a specialist supplier to fashion and lifestyle retailers, and in August 2014 it was admitted to AIM at 50p a share.

Roles

Dan co-founded the company with Andre Brown, who ran it, and served as non-executive chairman for thirteen years, from February 2003 until June 2016, including through its admission to the public market. His resignation as chairman was announced by the company on 15 June 2016. Attraqt is included here as a business Dan founded and chaired; the extent of any Bright Station shareholding is not published and none is claimed.

Outcome

Attraqt continued as an independent listed company for six years after Dan stepped down, expanding through acquisitions in Europe. In 2022 it agreed to be acquired by Crownpeak, an American digital-experience software company. The acquisition became effective on 6 December 2022, valuing Attraqt at about £63.2 million, and the shares were cancelled from AIM on 7 December 2022.

Today

Attraqt's products are sold by Crownpeak. Dan has had no role in the company since June 2016. Status checked 24 September 2026.