Bombus

What Bombus does

Bombus is a UK-based direct-to-consumer personalized gift company founded in 2002 by Director Amelia in Faversham, Kent. The business specializes in handmade map location gifts, built around a curated archive of 15,000-25,000+ vintage maps (including OS maps, Bartholomew maps, and antique tourist maps) housed in a dedicated map room. Customers select any location worldwide, choose a format (hearts, stars, circles, squares, hexagons, letters, clocks, cards, notebooks, and decorative accessories), and personalize with names, dates, or messages; the iconic Map Heart Card, launched in 2002, remains the company's best-selling product after 20 years. Production is in-house at the Bombus Oast House studio at Brenley Farm using laser cutting and engraving, with FSC-certified sustainable wood frames, upcycled maps, and plastic-free packaging underpinning a strong sustainability narrative.

The business operates a multi-channel distribution model: its own e-commerce site (bombus.co.uk) is the primary channel, supplemented by long-tenured marketplace presence on Etsy (19,000+ sales and Top Seller/Star Seller recognition over 15 years) and Not on the High Street, plus wholesale through charity retailers including Save the Children's 25 UK shops and periodic studio sale events. Pricing spans £2 greeting cards to £495 sixteen-location premium framed artworks, with payment options including Klarna, PayPal, and Apple Pay. International delivery is supported to the US, Australia, Singapore, and broader Europe, with multi-currency checkout in GBP, AUD, EUR, SGD, and USD, though 90% of sales remain domestic UK.

Marketing is driven by content (109 blog posts), organic Instagram, email newsletters with 15% first-order incentives, and earned media including features in The Independent, Ideal Home, Country Homes, and ITV's This Morning. The company has no external institutional funding, no acquisitions, and no disclosed revenue, and remains privately held by its founders with a small team of 11-50 staff spanning design, content, studio management, and production roles.

Name

Bombus

Legal name

Bombus

Website

https://bombus.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bombus is a UK-based handmade personalized gift company that creates customized map location artwork and keepsakes from a curated archive of 15,000+ vintage maps. Founded in 2002, it sells direct-to-consumer through its own e-commerce site, Etsy, Not on the High Street, and wholesale, serving gift buyers for weddings, anniversaries, and special occasions worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Personalised Gifts and Handmade Home Decor

NAICS

Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Retailers (459420), Jewelry Retailers (45831)

SIC

Greeting Cards (2771)

akta.pro primary industry

Personalized & Custom Gift Creation (Engraving/Monogramming/Photo Gifts) (HSACANAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Greeting Cards, Wrap & Party Supplies Retail (CRALAJAE)

Keywords

• Personalised map gifts
• Handmade keepsakes
• Vintage map artwork
• Personalised greeting cards
• Sustainable home decor

Headquarters

HQ city

Faversham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Direct E-commerce Sales: Direct-to-consumer sales through bombus.co.uk website where customers purchase personalized map gifts. Products include framed maps, cards, keepsakes, and accessories with one-time purchase prices ranging from £2 to £495.
2. Marketplace Sales: Sales through Etsy and Not on the High Street platforms. Etsy sales have reached 19,000 transactions with Top Seller recognition.
3. Wholesale: Wholesale catalogue available for stockists to purchase Bombus products for resale.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Bombus designs and hand-produces personalised map-location gifts (framed map art, greeting cards, wall clocks, notebooks, keepsakes, cufflinks, soaps, and decorative accessories) made by laser-cutting and mounting customer-chosen locations from a library of over 15,000 vintage maps. Customers personalise the location, shape, frame, and message online for direct-to-consumer purchase or via Etsy, Not on the High Street, and wholesale stockists.

Product overview

Bombus is a UK-based small business founded in 2002 that creates personalised map location gifts and handmade keepsake products. The company operates from an Oast House studio at Brenley Farm in Faversham, Kent, and is best known for its iconic Bombus Map Heart Card and associated personalised map artwork. The product portfolio is centred on a unified customisation platform: customers choose a map location from anywhere in the world (from a library of over 25,000 vintage maps), select a format (hearts, stars, circles, squares, hexagons, letters/numbers, clocks, notebooks, cards, and decorative accessories), and add personalisation (names, dates, messages, engravings). The core product lines are: (1) Personalised Map Gifts — framed map artworks in various geometric shapes and sizes (miniature through sixteen-location displays), handmade in FSC-certified sustainable solid wood frames (white, oak, black, gold); (2) Personalised Cards — occasion cards featuring map silhouettes combined with themes (aeroplanes, taxis, campervans, animals, planets) for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, Christmas, Father's Day, and other occasions; (3) Decorative Accessories — including wall clocks, bookends, boxes, keepsakes, flower press kits, stationery, handmade soaps, birth flower gifts, message bottle keepsakes, cufflinks, pocket mirrors, hanging decorations, and luxury wrapping paper. The company also sells a dedicated Seconds and Sale range of overstock and imperfect items. All products share a commitment to sustainability: vintage maps are upcycled from old atlases and OS maps, frames are FSC/PEFC-certified, packaging is plastic-free, and the company has a published sustainability pledge. Bespoke multi-location map artworks (two, three, six, nine, and sixteen locations in a single frame) serve as the primary wedding and anniversary product category.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Personalised Map Gifts (Framed Maps) Flagship handmade product line of map locations cut from vintage maps and mounted in FSC-certified solid wood frames (white, oak, black, gold). Available in heart, star, circle, square, hexagon, and letter/number shapes, customisable to any worldwide location with optional names or messages.
• Personalised Cards Handmade greeting cards featuring vintage-map locations combined with themed silhouettes (aeroplanes, taxis, campervans, VW Beetles, motorbikes, planets, animals) with optional engraving, luxury gift boxes, and direct-to-recipient shipping.
• Map Location Wall Clocks Handmade solid wood wall clocks (round and square formats) faced with the customer's chosen map location, plus a Stars and Constellations Clock range featuring vintage night-sky constellation charts.
• Decorative Accessories Decorative and gift accessories including bookends, boxes, keepsakes, Flower Press kits (bumblebee/butterfly designs), birth flower framed prints, and wooden flower keepsakes.
• Wedding and Anniversary Gift Collection Multi-location personalised map artwork collection (2, 3, 6, 9, and 16-location hearts, circles, and stars in single frames) plus travel-themed wedding gifts and gifts aligned with traditional anniversary materials (paper, wood, silver, golden).
• Personalised Stationery (Notebooks and Sketchbooks) Hardback notebooks, sketchbooks, and vintage-map travel journals faced with vintage maps or star/constellation charts in lined or blank formats with optional personalised interior messages.
• Christmas Products Seasonal Christmas range including Christmas cards, wood and glass baubles, hanging star keepsakes, map location decorations, stocking fillers, alternative Christmas trees, table decorations, gift wrapping, and Secret Santa gifts.
• Flower Press Kits Handpainted wooden flower and leaf press kits laser-etched with bumblebee or butterfly designs in multiple colours, including 8 sheets of blotting paper, corrugated card, optional engraving, miniature antique brass display frame, and natural cotton bag.
• Map Location Cufflinks Silver (rhodium-plated) cufflinks (2cm diameter) featuring the customer's chosen map location; each cufflink in a pair can feature the same or different locations.
• Map Location Luggage Tags Personalised luggage tags faced with the customer's chosen map location on one side and an engraved message on the reverse, strung with leather cord.
• Map Location Pocket Mirror Handmade pocket mirror with a map of the customer's chosen location engraved around the mirror's edge with a personalised message.
• Luxury Handmade Soap Organic handmade soaps in scented and unscented varieties (Kelp Fennel Juniper & Tea Tree; Charcoal Cedar & Pine; Cornflower & Black Poppy Seed; Poppy Seed & Floral) wrapped in vintage map packaging.
• Birth Flower Gifts Personalised gifts themed around birth month flowers, including framed birth flower prints and birth flower keepsake bottles, with each month associated with a specific flower.
• Message Bottle Gifts Miniature bottles containing the customer's chosen map location sealed inside, accompanied by a personalised message label; popular as romantic and wedding favours.
• Horoscope Pocket Mirror Compact 8cm pocket mirrors with the customer's chosen star-sign constellation engraved on the reverse and corresponding positive zodiac attributes around the frame edge; available in multiple finishes including glittery stain options.
• Seconds and Sale Range Discounted seconds and overstock products including greeting cards from £2, candles from £8.76, travel journals from £8, wall clocks from £35, coasters, and soaps with minor imperfections.

Quantifiable outcome

• 19,000+ sales through Etsy alone, with Top Seller recognition
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Not on the High Street (NOTHS)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBombus partners with Not on the High Street as a marketplace seller. Ben Carter, Marketing Director at NOTHS, visited Bombus for an InYourShoes day to understand their operations. NOTHS is a curated marketplace for handmade and unique gifts.
• EtsycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBombus has been selling on Etsy for 15 years, reaching 19,000+ sales and earning Top Seller/Star Seller recognition. Etsy provides the largest variety of handmade goods marketplace globally.
• Save the Children (Mary's Living & Giving Shops)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBombus supplies cards and prints to Save the Children's charity retail shops across the UK. The partnership includes their premium Kew store and 25 shops nationwide. Bombus has been supplying for years.
• Royal MailminorOthersRoyal Mail handles most of Bombus's shipping needs. Royal Mail has been working to improve sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint over the past few years.
• FSC and PEFC Certified SupplierscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrame suppliers hold FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certifications. Frames are made from sustainable wood from British sources meeting social, economic, and ecological needs. Suppliers plant 20,000 new trees annually and became 100% recyclable in January 2020.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Etsy: Etsy itself is the marketplace platform on which Bombus has built 19,000+ sales and Top Seller status. It is an ecosystem/partner rather than a competitor, but it materially shapes Bombus's discoverability, fee structure, and competitive set of makers.
• Not on the High Street: Not on the High Street is a curated UK marketplace for handmade and personalised gifts where Bombus is a partner seller. The marketplace is more ecosystem/advertising partner than direct competitor, but its broader seller set (e.g., Posh Totty Designs, Button and Squire) competes indirectly for the same audience within the platform.

Emerging players

• Papier: Papier is a personalised stationery and greeting-card brand that competes with Bombus's card and notebook ranges (birthday, wedding, stationery). It is a direct-adjacent peer on personalised cards and notebooks with stronger brand recognition but lower map-based product depth.

Direct peers

• Getting Personal: Getting Personal is a large UK personalised gift retailer offering engraved, photo, and location-based products across many gift occasions. It competes directly with Bombus in the UK personalised-gift retail space, though at a broader scale and with a less artisanal/handmade positioning.
• Maptote: Maptote manufactures bags and accessories featuring maps of customer-chosen cities, using a similar map-as-personalisation pattern. It is a US-based emerging player with smaller scale, comparable in concept (map-based personalised products) and overlapping on cufflinks, totes, and pocket mirrors.
• I Just Love It: I Just Love It is a UK-based personalised gift retailer specialising in engraved and custom gifts for him, her, couples, and occasions. It overlaps with Bombus on personalised keepsakes, cufflinks, and gift items for weddings and birthdays, and is a relevant UK retail peer.
• Letterfest: Letterfest is a UK personalised-gift maker offering custom prints, engraved keepsakes, and bespoke artwork. It overlaps directly with Bombus on personalised artwork, framed prints, and engraved keepsakes for weddings and anniversaries, with a comparable bespoke/maker brand positioning.
• Mapiful: Mapiful is a direct competitor producing personalised map posters, city prints, and star/constellation wall art sold globally. It targets the same buyer use cases (couples, home décor, gifts) and competes head-on in personalised map-based wall décor, though its positioning leans more toward print-on-demand poster formats than Bombus's hand-cut vintage-map premium products.

Broad incumbents

• Prezzybox: Prezzybox is a long-running UK personalised-gift retailer offering a wide assortment of custom and quirky gifts. It competes for the same UK personalised-gift shopper and occasion-based purchase intent, though it operates a higher-SKU catalogue model than Bombus's curated handmade range.
• Find Me A Gift: Find Me A Gift is an established UK gift retailer carrying personalised, novelty, and experience gifts across a much broader category set. While less artisanal than Bombus, it overlaps in personalised and occasion-driven gifting and competes for the same UK gift-buyer search demand.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/bombus_gifts
• Pinterestpinterest.com/bombusgifts
• Facebookfacebook.com/Bombusdesign
• Xx.com/bombus

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bombus