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Ecommerce start-up Basket announces additions to its all-star team

Basket, the ecommerce start-up has announced Lee Lythe as Chief Marketing Officer, who will lead on multi-channel user acquisition, and build out publisher and retailer networks.

Lee Lythe will join Basket in the coming months after 8 years at Spark Foundry (and former agency brand Blue449), who boasted £369m billings in 2022 and are known for accelerating client business growth.

As Chief Investment Officer at Spark Foundry, she was responsible for leading the award-winning 100-person buying and investment team. In her new role, Lee will leverage her strong relationships with big publishers and retailers.

Lee, who was named as Top 10 Media Buyers in 2020 and 2021, is known by many as an exceptional female leader who progressed quickly in a typically male-dominated area of the media industry. With 19 years of experience, Lee has worked across clients catering to both niche and mass markets. Her talent and passion is demonstrated through her success with retail and FMCG clients; successfully delivering exceptional results for clients including M&S, Currys, ASDA, GSK and Mondelez. 

Basket has also hired Jo Doyle, previously head of external communications at Publicis Media, into the new role of Head of Communications, to lead on marketing and PR strategy and execution.

Basket launched in September 2022. Since then, the app and browser extension has gone from strength to strength, being dubbed by Crowdcube and Brewdog investors as ‘the next unicorn’ and acquiring 65,000+ active users. The app allows online shoppers to add products from any retailer into one shopping basket, and receive automatic price drop and stock refill alerts. 

Basket is set to announce more features soon to tackle the current challenges of cookie restrictions and shopping cart abandonment.

Lex Deak, CEO and co-founder, Basket, said: “This is a big moment for Basket and we’re extremely proud of the growth and success we’ve had to date. After a successful round we’re thrilled to welcome Lee and Jo to the team as we know their combined decades of experience and industry relationships will help accelerate Basket in this next stage of growth.”

Lee Lythe, said: I am so thankful to Sue Frogley, Steve Bignell, Pete Edwards, Dave Mulrenan, and my incredible team at Spark Foundry for their support in this decision to step into the startup world. I wouldn’t have made the move if I didn’t believe in the future that Basket are building. This is bold and timely venture that will shape the future of shopping, by saving consumers time and money, and offering retailers the technology to engage and understand their customers more than ever before. I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity ahead and can’t wait to get started.”