Your.Online has acquired Progress Planner, the company founded by Joost de Valk and Marieke van de Rakt. As part of the acquisition, de Valk, van de Rakt, and their team will join the hosting group to lead the development of AI capabilities across its brands. No financial details of the acquisition have been shared.
About Your.Online
Specialized in domain services, web hosting, and security and trust services, Your.Online operates a decentralized model in which acquired companies retain autonomy over their teams, customers, products, and brands. The company is backed by Strikwerda Investments, a Dutch family office focused on IT investments.
Instead of following its usual acquisition-driven model, Your.Online decided to invest in a focused initiative to develop AI as a foundational layer as they felt “The right path here is building, not acquiring.”
A New AI Growth Team
The company has established a dedicated AI Growth-team. De Valk will serve as Group Head of AI & Growth, while van de Rakt will take on the role of Group Head of Brand & Community. They will work alongside CTO Wido den Hollander and a team of developers and community leaders across the organization. The announcement post shared, “The team operates with a high degree of autonomy, close to real customer environments and existing brand platforms.”
Your.Online said the goal is to create a new category of products while improving existing services. The company envisions tools that help entrepreneurs move from idea to launch faster, simplify day-to-day operations, and provide guidance that supports long-term growth.
“The goal is reducing the friction between the tools that already exist, so entrepreneurs spend their energy on building rather than navigating,” the company said.
Progress Planner’s Journey
Progress Planner was founded by de Valk and van de Rakt following the sale of Yoast to Newfold Digital in 2021. De Valk founded Yoast in 2010 and built it into one of the most recognizable brands in the WordPress ecosystem before its acquisition. Following the sale, the pair launched Emilia Capital and later founded Progress Planner.
Progress Planner develops tools that help WordPress website owners improve and maintain their sites through guided tasks, progress tracking, and personalized recommendations. The platform is designed to make website management more engaging while helping users achieve measurable improvements over time.
Joost de Valk on the Acquisition
In a blog post announcing the acquisition, titled “A new home for Progress Planner, and for us,” de Valk said “Nothing changes for the people using Progress Planner today” .
He explained that the company needed additional resources and long-term backing to fully realize its vision. “To grow into what it should be, Progress Planner needs a foundation under it: people, infrastructure, and a reason to keep investing for years, not quarters. Your.Online is that foundation.”
De Valk said the alignment between the two companies extends beyond the acquisition itself. “They’re a hosting group with strong European roots and a simple belief: hosting should do more than keep your site online. It should help you make it better. That’s the same bet Progress Planner makes.”
De Valk also outlined his broader vision for the relationship between hosting providers and website growth tools. “I think the line between where your site is hosted and what helps it grow is about to disappear. Your host should know what your site needs next, and help you do it. Most hosts are nowhere close. That gap is the opportunity.”
Early this year, De Valk along with Karim Marucchi stepped back from FAIR, a Linux Foundation-backed initiative aimed at creating a distributed system for WordPress core updates, plugins, themes, and translations. Last year de Valk and van de Rakt acquired Post Status from Cory and Lindsey Miller and transformed it into a non-profit.