Ingenuity names first chairman to support growth

Ingenuity, the complete commerce business of THG plc, has appointed technology and payments entrepreneur Alistair Crane as its first chairman to support plans to accelerate growth in core markets, including the US.

Crane, currently chief executive of digital career coaching business Bloom, joined THG on January 2 and has been appointed to support the next stage in Ingenuity’s development following its pivot towards more complex, higher-margin Enterprise clients, which began gathering pace in 2023.

Before Bloom, Crane founded Grapple, a developer of mobile apps for brands acquired by Monitise, and Hero, a social shopping platform bought by Klarna in 2021.

Matt Moulding, chief executive of THG Plc, said in a statement: “I’d like to welcome Alistair to Ingenuity and the wider THG business and we’re looking forward to benefiting from his drive and experience.

“He has spent his career building digital brands and scaling high-growth businesses, so he is the perfect candidate to help Ingenuity expand across core markets.”

THG plc’s commerce business Ingenuity targets US with chairman appointment

As chairman, Crane will support Ingenuity’s senior leadership team, “using his experience and contacts to help scale the Ingenuity business in the US”.

Ingenuity’s complete commerce solution offers a one-stop-shop to brands spanning technology, marketing and operations. It is targeting further expansion in the US and adding Enterprise partners in core categories such as nutrition, wellness, prestige beauty, retail and food and beverage. Its current partnerships include L’Oreal, Matalan and Asda.

On his new role, Crane added: “Ingenuity is a great business with a superb end-to-end offer across digital marketing, technology and operations so there is a real chance to seize a bigger share of the market.

“There are major opportunities to grow the business and I’m really looking forward to supporting [the senior leadership team] in taking Ingenuity to the next level.”