A DIGITAL marketing start-up is competing with the world’s biggest firms after being snapped up by a global e-commerce giant.

DC Storm, based in Brighton, has pioneered a solution to online advert measurement, promising transparent, independent analysis of campaign performance.

The acquisition for an undisclosed sum by Japan-based Rakuten Marketing was said to reaffirm Brighton’s status as a world-class hub for digital marketing.

The start-up was founded by chief executive Seth Richardson in 2004 with just three employees.

More than 60 employees are now based at its Frederick Place offices.

Around a third of employees started as interns and around half are graduates from the University of Sussex.

Graduate Harriett Hayden started as an intern in 2008 and went on to open the New York office in 2013.

All DC Storm employees in the UK, US and Germany will stay with the company and its headquarters will remain in Brighton.

The firm is looking to make new appointments to keep up with its expansion ambitions.

Seth Richardson said: “We started DC Storm in 2004 with a vision of providing an accurate way to measure marketing activity and utilise the insights to optimize performance.

“Today we not only celebrate joining the Rakuten Marketing family and the exciting opportunities this brings, but also the fact that it reaffirms Brighton’s status as a world-class hub for digital marketing.”

The move follows the recent acquisitions by Google and AOL of attribution companies Adometry and Convertro with digital marketers calling for better measurement.

Rakuten Inc is ranked by Forbes in the top ten world’s most innovative companies, has more 10,000 employees worldwide.

Yaz Iida, chief executive of Rakuten Marketing, said: “As one of the pioneers in attribution, analytics and tag management, DC Storm directly addresses the number one issue facing today’s digital marketers – transparency and independent analysis of campaign performance.

“DC Storm’s technology and expertise provide the clarity needed by CMOs to make the most effective and most profitable decisions. This acquisition fulfils our promise to bring empowerment to the digital marketing environment through increased transparency.”