Serial entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den winner, Lex Deak, has secured £2 million for his new app, BASKET.
Notable investors include Lightbank, the VC firm founded by Groupon co-founder, Eric Lefkosky, as well as co-founder and CEO of WorldFirst, Jonathan Quin, and Mumsnet founder and CEO, Justine Roberts.
It is claimed that BASKET will revolutionise the online shopping experience when it launches in January 2022.
Shoppers will be able to bookmark potential purchases from anywhere on or offline and organise them in a single space. The BASKET app will then inform them of price drops or any discounts available on their items.
BASKET is hoping that the app will appeal to time-poor shoppers who don’t have time to track reductions or deals and who are disillusioned with ads.
BASKET believes this more targeted approach will mean consumers are more likely to go ahead with their purchases. In turn, this will benefit retailers, who can face shopping basket abandonment rates of up to 75% in some circumstances.
Shoppers can also share their BASKETs with their social media followers and can earn commission if they help to generate purchases – tying in with the growing influencer marketing industry.
BASKET Founder and CEO Lex Deak said:
“I love to bag a bargain but like many busy people, I struggle to find time to track deals and reductions and I know the frustration of missing out on savings, especially when looking for holidays and bigger ticket purchases.
“That’s why I believe BASKET is going to transform the shopping experience for millions of people, giving them the power to easily get the best deal. BASKET is also going to be a brilliant tool for influencers and creators – allowing them to share curated BASKETs with their followers.
“It’s great that investors are also seeing the huge opportunities here and recognising the excellent team behind this project. The response from early testing has exceeded all expectations and I can’t wait to get BASKET in consumers’ hands in January.”
Lightbank VC said:
“We are thrilled to support the team at BASKET as they work to provide shoppers a frictionless way to buy anything online, at the best price. The global e-commerce market is massive ($4trn!) but has lacked innovation in the shopping cart experience. We believe BASKET can unify the shopping experience across the web making it faster, easier, and cheaper for consumers to shop online.”