Cakemail
Cakemail is a Montreal-based email marketing platform founded in 2007 offering multi-channel campaign tools, transactional Email API, and white-label solutions for SMBs, agencies, SaaS platforms, nonprofits, and web hosting companies, with Canadian data residency and CASL compliance as core differentiators.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersMontréal, Canada
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Cakemail does
Cakemail is a Montreal-based email marketing software company founded in 2007 that provides a multi-channel marketing platform, transactional email API, and white-label email solutions primarily targeting small and mid-sized businesses, agencies, SaaS platforms, nonprofits, and web hosting companies. The company operates four interconnected products: a core Marketing Platform with customer journey automation, landing pages, popups, and signup forms; a developer-facing Email API offering REST and SMTP interfaces with multi-tenant support and up to 35,000 free monthly email credits; an Email Marketing Add-on for SaaS enabling embedded white-label email functionality; and an Agency Partner Program for agencies and web hosts to resell the platform under their own brand. Underlying technology includes dedicated IP infrastructure, SPF/DKIM/DMARC authentication, real-time inbox monitoring, and a multi-tenant architecture that supports both direct subscribers and partner-driven distribution.
The business model combines freemium self-serve acquisition (6,000 monthly emails for 500 contacts free), tiered subscription plans, usage-based billing for the API, a 30% recurring affiliate commission program managed via Tapfiliate, revenue-share white-label arrangements with agency and hosting partners, and an Assist+ recurring professional services subscription. Cakemail emphasizes Canadian data residency, CASL compliance, PIPEDA and Quebec Law 25 adherence, CAD billing, and bilingual English/French support as core differentiators for Canadian customers seeking alternatives to US-based ESPs. The platform also maintains GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and PDPA compliance for international operations.
The company is privately held with no external funding rounds disclosed, operates with 11-50 employees, and has been bootstrapped for 17 years. Strategic distribution partnerships with Yapla (60,000 nonprofits reachable) and Prodon anchor the nonprofit vertical, while the white-label SaaS add-on and agency programs extend reach into embedded and reseller channels. Customer evidence indicates long retention cycles (10+ years), and named customer logos span SMB and nonprofit segments including Golfshake, RaceData, Life Post Concussion, and Eckankar Quebec.
Cakemail firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cakemail
- Legal name
- Cakemail Inc.
- Website
- https://cakemail.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Cakemail is a Montreal-based email marketing platform founded in 2007 offering multi-channel campaign tools, transactional Email API, and white-label solutions for SMBs, agencies, SaaS platforms, nonprofits, and web hosting companies, with Canadian data residency and CASL compliance as core differentiators.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Cakemail is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Montréal
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Cakemail business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Marketing Platform Subscriptions: Subscription-based pricing for the email marketing platform with tiered plans based on contact limits and feature access. Paid plans for agencies, nonprofits, and general businesses.
- Email API Usage: Usage-based billing for API email sends. 35,000 free emails per month included, with paid usage for higher volumes. Subject to approval for top deliverability standards.
- Agency Partner Program: Agencies and web hosting companies resell Cakemail under white-label with revenue share on paid accounts. Partners receive discounts to maintain profitability.
- Affiliate Program: 30% recurring monthly commission for each successful referral that converts to paid account. Managed through Tapfiliate platform.
- Professional Services: Hands-on expert assistance including migration, integrations, strategy development, design implementation, automation setup, and deliverability consulting.
- Assist+ Subscription: Recurring hands-on help subscription from experts for ongoing support and optimization.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier - 6,000 emails/month for 500 contacts |
| Freemium | Monthly | Nonprofit Free - 2,000 contacts, 10,000 emails/month |
| Subscription | Monthly | Nonprofit Paid - $19 to $30/month |
| Usage-based | Monthly | Email API - 35,000 free emails/month |
| Subscription | Monthly | Agency Partner - Revenue share model |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Monthly | Affiliate - 30% recurring commission |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels8 records
Cakemail product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cakemail provides a multi-channel email marketing platform featuring a visual Customer Journey Builder, automated campaigns, landing pages, popups, audience segmentation, and analytics. It also offers a developer-facing REST Email API for transactional and marketing email delivery, a white-label email add-on for SaaS embedding, and a True White-Label agency partner program. All offerings are priced in CAD, CASL-compliant, and backed by data stored in Canada.
Product overview
Cakemail is a Canadian email marketing platform provider offering a portfolio of four interconnected products: the core Marketing Platform for running email campaigns with multi-channel capabilities, automations, and audience management; the Email API for developers needing programmatic transactional and marketing email delivery at scale; the Email Marketing Add-On for SaaS enabling white-label embedding into third-party products; and the Agency Email Marketing reseller program for partners managing multiple client accounts. The Assist+ professional services subscription provides ongoing expert support across migration, strategy, and optimization. The platform is CAD-priced, CASL-compliant, and stores data in Canada.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Cakemail Marketing Platform: Multi-channel email marketing platform with automation, audience management, and campaign tools.
- Cakemail Email API
- Cakemail Email Marketing Add-on for SaaS
- Cakemail Agency Partner Program
- Assist+
- Cakemail Next-gen
- Cakemail Classic
Products and services
- Marketing Platform SaaS marketing platform that enables businesses, agencies, and nonprofits to build and run multi-channel email campaigns, marketing automations, landing pages, popups, signup forms, audience segmentation, A/B testing, and analytics.
- Email API REST API and SMTP relay for developers and engineering teams to send transactional and marketing emails at scale, with multi-tenant support, dynamic email templating, real-time delivery analytics, and 35,000 free emails per month on the entry-level plan.
- Email Marketing Add-On for SaaS White-label email marketing solution that lets SaaS companies embed a full-featured email platform into their product, with easy integration, custom UI branding, built-in campaign and contact tools, ready-made infrastructure and compliance, and dedicated partner support.
- Agency Email Marketing (Agency Partner Program) White-label reseller program that lets agencies and web hosting companies offer Cakemail under their own brand with a centralized dashboard for managing multiple clients, built-in billing and user controls, developer-ready API, and revenue share on paid accounts.
- Assist+ Recurring subscription service delivering hands-on expert help from Cakemail specialists, covering migration, integrations, API setup, audience management, strategy development, design and implementation, automation, deliverability and compliance, and performance analysis.
- Nonprofit Email Marketing Plan Discounted pricing tier of the Marketing Platform tailored for nonprofit organizations, with campaigns, automated workflows, audience segmentation, signup forms, sender domain authentication, and API access; free up to 2,000 contacts, then $19-$30/month depending on list size and usage.
Quantifiable outcome
- 60,000 nonprofits served through partnership ecosystem
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Cakemail
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles6 records
Cakemail technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
AI capability2 records
Feature6 records
Cakemail partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- YaplacorePartnership with Yapla to offer complete solution for nonprofits. Nonprofits get Cakemail's email marketing tools and support inside Yapla's platform alongside payment, donation, website, event, and membership solutions. Case study indicates 60,000 nonprofits served through this partnership.
- ProdoncorePartnership with Prodon to offer complete nonprofit solution. Combines Cakemail email marketing with Prodon's payment, donation, website, and CRM database solutions. Nonprofits access campaigns, automations, segmentation, forms, and API through Prodon interface.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreCloud infrastructure provider for hosting the Cakemail platform, website, services, and data. AWS provides the necessary hardware, software, networking, storage, and related technology required to operate the platform.
- StripecorePayment processing partner for processing credit card payments for paid Cakemail plans. Stripe handles transaction processing and billing management.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Cakemail competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign combines email marketing, CRM, and automation for SMB and mid-market customers. It competes with Cakemail on customer journey automation, segmentation depth, and agency partner programs.
- Klaviyo: Klaviyo is a leading email and SMS marketing platform focused on e-commerce and DTC brands. While Cakemail serves a broader vertical set, both compete for the same marketing-automation buyer with comparable customer journey builders, segmentation, and API integrations.
- SendGrid (Twilio): SendGrid is a cloud-based email delivery and API platform for transactional and marketing email at scale. Cakemail's Email API product competes head-to-head with SendGrid's developer-focused offering, though SendGrid operates at significantly larger infrastructure scale as part of Twilio.
- Mailchimp: Mailchimp (owned by Intuit) is the dominant SMB email marketing platform with comparable campaign, automation, and template capabilities. It is the primary direct competitor Cakemail faces in the self-serve SMB segment, though Mailchimp operates at much greater scale and breadth.
Direct peers
- Mailgun (Sinch): Mailgun is a developer-focused email API service for sending transactional and marketing emails at scale. It directly parallels Cakemail's Email API product, though Mailgun is owned by Sinch and serves a larger enterprise developer base.
- Constant Contact: Constant Contact is a long-standing email marketing platform targeting SMBs and nonprofits with templates, automation, and event marketing. Its nonprofit focus and SMB positioning make it a particularly close direct peer to Cakemail's vertical segmentation strategy.
- Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): Brevo offers email marketing, transactional email, SMS, and marketing automation with a freemium model and global positioning. It is a close peer to Cakemail's multi-product Marketing Platform plus Email API structure and comparable SMB-to-mid-market focus.
- MailerLite: MailerLite is a bootstrapped-style email marketing platform popular with SMBs, agencies, and creators, offering a freemium model and white-label capabilities. Its feature set, pricing, and target customer profile closely mirror Cakemail's positioning.
Emerging players
- Postmark (ActiveCampaign): Postmark is a transactional email API service focused on deliverability and developer experience. It competes with Cakemail's Email API product on the transactional side and emphasizes reliability, similar to Cakemail's deliverability positioning.
- Keap (Infusionsoft): Keap provides email marketing and CRM automation for small businesses and solopreneurs. While more CRM-centric than Cakemail, it competes in the same SMB email automation buying decision.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cakemail social profiles
Digital presenceCakemail compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance6 records
Cakemail financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cakemail leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Cakemail funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cakemail 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 Cakemail
What does Cakemail do?
Cakemail provides a multi-channel email marketing platform featuring a visual Customer Journey Builder, automated campaigns, landing pages, popups, audience segmentation, and analytics. It also offers a developer-facing REST Email API for transactional and marketing email delivery, a white-label email add-on for SaaS embedding, and a True White-Label agency partner program. All offerings are priced in CAD, CASL-compliant, and backed by data stored in Canada.
Is Cakemail a public or private company?
Cakemail is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Cakemail founded?
Cakemail was founded in 2007. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Cakemail based?
Cakemail is headquartered in Montréal, Canada, in the North America region.
How does Cakemail make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Marketing Platform Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are email API Usage, agency Partner Program, affiliate Program, professional Services and assist+ Subscription.
Who are Cakemail's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, SendGrid (Twilio) and Mailchimp. Direct peers are Mailgun (Sinch), Constant Contact, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) and MailerLite. Emerging players are Postmark (ActiveCampaign) and Keap (Infusionsoft).
Does Cakemail have an API?
Yes. Cakemail offers a REST API that allows organizations to access their account data, send transactional and marketing emails, sync audience data, track engagement metrics, and manage campaigns programmatically. The API supports both API and SMTP for sending transactional emails. Organizations can integrate the API into their products and workflows, with the platform reserving the right to throttle requests and suspend accounts for API abuse or excessive usage. Developer documentation is at docs.cakemail.com/en/guides/getting-started-ng-api.