ATTRAQT

The company was founded in 2003 as Locayta Limited by Andre Brown (CEO) as a spin out from Venda Limited eCommerce business and rebranded in early 2014 as Attraqt[3]. In August 2014, under advisement by N+1 Singer, the company went public on London's junior stock market with a goal of raising £1.3 million on AIM with a valuation of £10.4 million in order to fund expansion throughout Europe and North America[4]. Shares rose 7% on the first day of trading.

In December 2015, the company raised a further £3 million (net) to extend its expansion plans, and in January 2017, it acquired Fredhopper, the Amsterdam based onsite search, navigation and merchandising software provider for £25 million from SDL to create a global 'go-to' eCommerce visual merchandising company[5].

The deal was reported to give the combined company an increased presence in the UK, US, continental Europe and Asia Pacific markets, while establishing it as a ‘clear global leader in online visual merchandising,’ according to Andre Brown. The deal combined the site search, visual merchandising and product recommendation technologies of the two companies into one integrated platform[6].  

In Feb 2017, the company was reported to have more than 250 customers worldwide including Boohoo.com, Matches Fashion, Timberland, Superdry and The North Face[7]. In January 2018, Attraqt’s founder and CEO André Brown stepped down from his role and was replaced by the interim non-executive chairman Nick Hagbood while the search for a new CEO was carried out[8].

In May 2018, the company appointed Luke McKeever as the new CEO. Luke joined Attraqt from Neighbourly.com, an SaaS platform that "connects high profile brands with local communities", which he joined as executive chairman in June 2014, becoming CEO in September 2015, and of which he remains as non-executive director. When McKeever was first announced as the new company CEO on May 1, the company saw its shares rise almost 22% compared to the close on April 30, jumping from 31.1p to 38p[9].

In February 2019, the company posted its quarterly earnings[10], reporting a sharp increase in annual revenue and a significantly narrowed loss. Pre-tax losses narrowed to £2.7 million from £4.1 million the year before, while the company's revenue was reported to increase by 26% to £17.1[11]. Attraqt attributed this increase to "high levels" of recurring revenue and a 96% net revenue retention during this period.  

In March 2019, the company announced a strategic partnership with French personalization platform Early Birds to enhance the company’s eCommerce capabilities while giving Attraqt greater access to the French retail market[12]. Following this, in May 2019, the business acquired the company while announcing The Kooples as the first retail customer to sign up to the newly unified Attraqt & Early Birds solution[13].

In May 2020, the company announced the appointment of Mark Adams as Chief Executive Officer, effective from 22 June 2020. The Current CEO Luke McKeever will transition to a non-executive director role simultaneously. Mark joins the Group from BigCommerce, a leading global eCommerce platform provider. During his time with BigCommerce, Mark successfully founded and led the Group's European operations from the first employee to a multi-function team covering Sales, Marketing, Partner Channel, Solution Engineering and Customer Success. In addition to this role, Mark has held a number of senior management positions in the eCommerce space over a 20 year period, including as the Co-Founder & Partner at eComp Consulting, and as an Owner & Sales & Marketing Director at Portaltech. Mark completed the successful trade sale of Portaltech to Reply S.p.A in 2011 and subsequently grew operations internationally. He also sits on the Board at yReceipts, a digital receipt, data and insight platform for global brands and retailers. [14]