Cardly
Cardly is an Australian-founded personalised greeting card platform that converts typed messages into simulated handwritten cards via local print partners, serving both direct-to-consumer buyers and B2B customers in real estate, HR, and financial services across 50+ countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersBuderim, Australia
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Cardly does
Cardly is an Australian-founded e-commerce platform, headquartered in Buderim, Queensland with a US office in Denver, that converts typed customer messages into personalised physical greeting cards designed to simulate handwritten output and dispatches them through a network of local print partners. The platform serves two distinct customer segments: direct-to-consumer buyers sending individual birthday, anniversary, Christmas, holiday, and thank-you cards, and B2B buyers — concentrated in real estate, HR, and financial services — using cards for client touches, onboarding, and lifecycle communications, with named enterprise customers across Google Cloud, Microsoft, HubSpot, Coca-Cola, Keller Williams, RE/MAX, Royal LePage, Ray White, JetBlue, Domino's, and Chick-fil-A. Core technology comprises a patented handwriting conversion engine, a QR-code engagement tracking layer, a public REST API, and a Zapier integration that connects the platform to more than 4,000 third-party apps, all of which sit on top of a catalogue of more than 8,000 designs sourced from over 60 independent artists.
Revenue is generated through three complementary mechanics: per-card unit pricing across multiple tiers (approximately AUD $2.90 to $4.10), pre-paid business credit systems with 12-month validity that lock in B2B spend ahead of fulfilment, and monthly business subscriptions that unlock premium capabilities such as US Mail Tracking, White Glove Support, and QR Reporting. A secondary revenue line exists through a gift card resale marketplace operating at face value. Physical fulfilment is decentralised across print partners in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, enabling shipment into more than 50 countries without Cardly owning manufacturing or logistics assets, and the platform has recorded 100% uptime over the trailing 90-day window. The company has raised approximately AUD $230,000, principally via a 2018 round from QUT Creative Enterprise Australia following an earlier Airtree Ventures participation in 2017, and operates with a 1–10 employee headcount.
Cardly firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cardly
- Legal name
- Cardly Pty Ltd
- Website
- https://cardly.net
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Cardly is an Australian-founded personalised greeting card platform that converts typed messages into simulated handwritten cards via local print partners, serving both direct-to-consumer buyers and B2B customers in real estate, HR, and financial services across 50+ countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cardly industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Personalised Greeting Cards
- NAICS
- Greeting Card Publishers (513191), Direct Mail Advertising (541860), Stationery Product Manufacturing (32223)
- SIC
- Greeting Cards (2771), Services-Direct Mail Advertising Services (7331)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Gift Card Processing, Issuance Platforms & Aggregators (FSAMANAL)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Multi-Merchant / Shopping Mall Gift Cards (FSAMANAC), Virtual Card Issuance & Tokenized Corporate Cards (THACAJAA)
Keywords
Where Cardly is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Buderim
- HQ country
- Australia
- HQ region
- Oceania
Offices3 records
Markets served
Cardly business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel
Revenue model
- Greeting Card Sales (Consumer & Business): Cardly sells personalised greeting cards to both individual consumers and business customers. Consumers pay per card including postage; businesses purchase credits or subscribe to tiers. Cards feature independent artist designs, handwritten messages, and optional QR codes or gift cards.
- Business Credit System (Pre-paid Credits): Business customers purchase pre-paid credits (Credit) which can be used to order cards or letters. Credits include postage to US, UK, CA, or AU. Credits are valid for 12 months from purchase; unused credits expire. Subscriptions can extend credit validity. Gift Credit for gift cards also follows a pre-paid model.
- Business Subscriptions: Business customers can subscribe to tiered plans that unlock features including: White Glove Support, US Mail Tracking, US Automatic Address Corrections, UAA Mail Secure Destruction, Address Validation, File Storage, Credit Expiry Extension, Gift Credit Recovery, Signatures & Handwriting credits, Minimum Discounts, QR Code Reporting, and User Management.
- Gift Card Resale: Cardly acts as a reseller of digital gift cards from major retailers (Amazon, Uber Eats, eBay, and many others). Businesses and consumers can add gift cards to their card orders. Cardly sells these at face value with no markups or fees; revenue is generated on the spread between wholesale and retail pricing.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | 1-49 cards: $4.10 AUD per card (base tier) |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | 50-249 cards: $3.75 AUD per card (save 35%) |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | 250-499 cards: $3.45 AUD per card (save 42%) |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | 500-1999 cards: $3.15 AUD per card (save 46%) |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | 2000+ cards: $2.90 AUD per card (save 49%) |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Business Credit System: pre-paid credits valid 12 months from purchase |
| Subscription | Monthly | Business Subscriptions: optional tiered plans unlocking premium features |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Gift Card purchases at face value with no markups |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Own Handwriting/Signature Conversion: paid add-on service |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Cardly product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cardly converts typed messages into simulated handwritten notes, prints them on greeting cards designed by 60+ independent artists, and dispatches the cards from local print partners in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. The company also runs a digital gift card marketplace reselling gift cards from major retailers and offers Cardly for Business, a B2B subscription for automated handwritten direct mail campaigns.
Product overview
Cardly is an e-commerce platform that allows users to send personalized physical greeting cards online without writing by hand. The core offering consists of the consumer-facing greeting card platform and the Cardly for Business suite, which work together as a unified platform. Users select from thousands of independent artist-designed cards, add handwritten-style messages using Cardly's proprietary handwriting technology, and the cards are printed and posted locally. The business product extends the platform with automation capabilities, CRM integrations via Zapier, a public API, QR code tracking, and customizable branding options. The product portfolio also includes a Gift Cards Marketplace where users can purchase and send digital gift cards alongside physical cards, with recipients able to swap for their preferred retailer. Business customers can choose from Folded Cards, Note Cards, and Letters product formats.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Cardly Greeting Cards
- Cardly for Business
- Gift Card Marketplace
Quantifiable outcome
- Response rates 10x higher than email for personalised direct mail campaigns
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Cardly
Customer profileNamed customers11 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Cardly technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability3 records
Feature5 records
Cardly partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- ZapiercoreCardly offers a pre-built Zapier integration that connects to 4,000+ popular CRM, marketing automation, and HR software tools. This allows non-technical business users to create automated card-sending workflows triggered by events in their existing systems without developer resources.
- USPS (United States Postal Service)coreCardly uses USPS for mail delivery within the United States, including Intelligent Mail barcode tracking for US Mail Tracking, ACS (Automated Address Correction Service) for change-of-address updates, and Secure Destruction for undeliverable mail. Business subscriptions unlock these USPS-powered features.
- Local Print Partners (Global Network)coreCardly has a global network of local and international print partners that use digital technology and premium stock to print and dispatch cards from the location closest to the recipient. This enables same-time delivery as local posting and eliminates international air freight of physical cards.
- Amazon AWScoreCardly's Privacy Policy lists Amazon AWS as a subprocessor for hosting services. Cardly uses AWS cloud infrastructure to host its platform and store customer data.
- StripecoreStripe is Cardly's primary payment processor for card payments, checkout, and financial transactions. Stripe is listed as a subprocessor and is referenced in Cardly's Terms and Conditions. Stripe processes all credit card payments on behalf of Cardly.
- Independent Artists (60+ globally)coreCardly partners with 60+ independent artists from around the world who create unique greeting card designs. Artists can sell through Cardly's main platform or have their own dedicated artist sub-domain. Cardly celebrates artists and makes them 'front and centre' in its operations. Design IP remains with the artists.
- Gift Card Issuers (Amazon, Uber Eats, eBay, etc.)coreCardly resells digital gift cards from hundreds of major retailers including Amazon, Uber Eats, eBay, AMC Theatres, Home Depot, restaurants, and experience providers. Cardly acts as a licensed reseller of these gift cards, with no markups on face value. Gift card issuers provide Cardly with inventory to resell through its platform.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Cardly competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Postable: Postable is an online platform for sending personalised greeting cards with handwriting-style fonts and direct mail fulfilment. It targets the same consumer and small-business use cases as Cardly's core product.
- Handwrytten: Handwrytten uses robotic pens to produce actual handwritten notes triggered via API and integrations. It competes most directly with Cardly on automated, handwriting-style outreach for B2B sales, marketing, and HR use cases.
- Simply Noted: Simply Noted automates real-handwritten cards and letters using a network of custom robots, sold to businesses for marketing and customer outreach. It is a head-to-head competitor in the automated handwritten mail category.
- Thankster: Thankster offers automated handwritten card sending via API and integrations to CRMs, similar to Cardly for Business. The two compete on the same direct mail automation use cases for sales and customer engagement teams.
Broad incumbents
- Lob: Lob provides a direct mail automation API covering postcards, letters, and cheques for enterprise marketing and operations. It competes with Cardly's B2B/API offering on developer-grade direct mail, though Cardly emphasises handwritten-style cards.
- American Greetings: American Greetings is one of the largest greeting card publishers globally with both wholesale and digital consumer channels. It is a broad incumbent that competes with Cardly on the underlying greeting card demand.
- 1-800-Flowers.com: 1-800-Flowers.com is a US-based gifting and floral retailer with an embedded greeting card business via its brands (e.g., Cardstore). It is a broad incumbent across gifting and cards that overlaps with Cardly on occasion-based gifting purchases.
- Hallmark Cards: Hallmark is the dominant US greeting card publisher and a broad incumbent across cards, gifts, and licensed content. It represents the legacy incumbent that Cardly's digital, automation-led model seeks to disrupt in selected segments.
Regional players
- Moonpig: Moonpig is a leading online personalised greeting card retailer in the UK and other markets. It overlaps with Cardly on the online personalised greeting card category but operates as a pure consumer marketplace rather than a handwriting-automation platform.
Emerging players
- Rocketbook: Rocketbook sells reusable, digitally connected notebooks and stationery that bridge physical and digital workflows. It is an adjacent player in the personalised handwriting-and-digital capture space and shares Cardly's interest in handwriting as a product category.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cardly social profiles
Digital presenceCardly financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cardly leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Cardly funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cardly M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Cardly
What does Cardly do?
Cardly converts typed messages into simulated handwritten notes, prints them on greeting cards designed by 60+ independent artists, and dispatches the cards from local print partners in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. The company also runs a digital gift card marketplace reselling gift cards from major retailers and offers Cardly for Business, a B2B subscription for automated handwritten direct mail campaigns.
Is Cardly a public or private company?
Cardly is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Cardly founded?
Cardly was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Cardly based?
Cardly is headquartered in Buderim, Australia, in the Oceania region.
How does Cardly make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Greeting Card Sales (Consumer & Business) is the primary driver. The others are business Credit System (Pre-paid Credits), business Subscriptions and gift Card Resale.
Who are Cardly's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Postable, Handwrytten, Simply Noted and Thankster. Broad incumbents are Lob, American Greetings, 1-800-Flowers.com and Hallmark Cards. Moonpig is listed as a regional player. Rocketbook is listed as an emerging player.
Does Cardly have an API?
Yes. Cardly offers a public API that allows integration with existing systems and processes. The API enables users to trigger cards in handwriting style, use existing templates and artwork, and upload artwork on the fly to create bespoke sends. API integration supports custom integrations tailored to business needs, including building custom websites that use Cardly for fulfillment and automatically sending cards after certain events in their own systems. Documentation is available at https://api.card.ly/v2/docs. Developer documentation is at api.card.ly/v2/docs.
What industry is Cardly in?
Cardly's product category is Personalised Greeting Cards. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAMANAL, Gift Card Processing, Issuance Platforms & Aggregators, with a secondary code of FSAMANAC, Multi-Merchant / Shopping Mall Gift Cards. Its NAICS code is 513191 and its SIC code is 2771.