CraftCourses

What CraftCourses does

CraftCourses (legally Craft Courses Limited) is a UK-based online marketplace, founded in 2011 and headquartered in Crymych, Pembrokeshire, Wales, that connects consumers with over 6,000 independent artisan makers, craftspeople, and tutors across more than 150 creative categories. The platform supports five distinct product formats: in-person workshops, live online courses, on-demand online courses, physical craft kits, and handcrafted gifts, plus a gift voucher programme starting at £10 that functions as both a product and a discovery mechanism across the catalogue. Customers are predominantly individual consumers seeking creative experiences for leisure, skill-building, or gifting, with a secondary segment in corporate and group bookings (team building, hen/stag dos).

The platform is a bespoke-built booking and marketplace system that handles discovery (filtered by location, date, price, skill level, and accessibility features), booking (instant or request-based), payment processing, customer communications, automated reminders, review collection (57,000+ reviews since inception), and refund management on behalf of makers. A separate embeddable booking widget allows makers to accept bookings through their own websites at a lower 6% commission rate, extending distribution beyond the core domain.

CraftCourses earns revenue entirely through tiered marketplace commissions: 15% on instant bookings, 18% on request-based bookings, and 6% on widget-routed bookings, with no upfront fees charged to makers. The company employs 11-50 staff, holds B Corp certification (since 2021) and Good Business Charter membership, and operates exclusively within the United Kingdom with no disclosed international footprint.

Name

CraftCourses

Legal name

Craft Courses Limited

Website

https://craftcourses.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CraftCourses is a UK online marketplace, founded in 2011, that connects 6,000+ independent artisan makers with consumers seeking in-person, online, and kit-based creative workshops across 150+ craft categories, earning revenue through tiered booking commissions of 6-18%.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Craft Workshops Marketplace

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Retail-Hobby, Toy & Game Shops (5945)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts & Crafts Workshops (Painting, Pottery, Ceramics, Sculpture) (THAJAKAA)

Keywords

• Craft workshops marketplace
• Online craft courses
• Creative experience platform
• Artisan gift vouchers
• Independent maker bookings

Headquarters

HQ city

Pembroke

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Marketplace Commission - Instant Bookings: Platform earns 15% commission on bookings where makers opt for instant/automatic acceptance when availability exists
2. Marketplace Commission - On Request Bookings: Platform earns 18% commission on bookings where makers prefer to review and accept/decline booking requests manually
3. Widget Commission: Platform earns 6% commission on bookings made through the embeddable widget installed on makers' own websites

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

CraftCourses operates a two-sided online marketplace that connects over 6,000 independent UK makers, craftspeople, artists, and tutors with individuals seeking creative experiences. The platform lists in-person workshops, live online courses, on-demand downloadable courses, physical craft kits, and finished handcrafted gifts, supported by redeemable gift vouchers and an embeddable booking widget for maker websites. Revenue is earned purely through marketplace commissions (15% on instant bookings, 18% on request-based bookings, 6% on widget bookings) with no sign-up fees for makers.

Product overview

CraftCourses operates as a marketplace platform connecting users with over 6,000 independent UK artisan makers, craftspeople, and artists. The core offering consists of five main product categories: In-Person Courses (real-life workshops across 150+ creative categories), Online On-Demand Courses (downloadable self-paced content), Live Online Courses (real-time video-based instruction), Craft Kits (physical DIY materials), and Handcrafted Gifts (finished artisan items). Supporting products include Gift Vouchers (redeemable across all offerings), a Blog (editorial content and maker profiles), and a Makers Booking Widget (embeddable tool for maker websites). The platform serves both consumers seeking creative experiences and makers looking to monetize their craft skills.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• In-Person Courses
• Online On-Demand Courses Downloadable, pre-recorded courses that users can access anytime, enabling self-paced learning in various craft disciplines.
• Live Online Courses Real-time interactive courses delivered via video platforms such as Zoom, allowing students to learn crafts remotely with live instructor guidance.
• Craft Kits Physical craft kits containing materials and instructions that customers purchase to complete DIY craft projects at home.
• Handcrafted Gifts Finished handmade items created by independent artisans, available for purchase through the marketplace.
• Gift Vouchers Redeemable vouchers from £10, valid for one year, redeemable against thousands of art and craft courses, kits, gifts, and online workshops. Can be issued digitally via email or via First Class Royal Mail with personalised cards.

Quantifiable outcome

• 98.8% of customers rate their experiences as 'excellent'
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Airbnb Experiences: Global online experiences marketplace that includes craft and creative workshops alongside tours, food, and adventure. Competes for the same leisure/creative-experience consumer wallet and overlaps on craft-specific supply, but is a much broader, well-capitalized incumbent.
• MasterClass: Premium online video class platform with celebrity-instructor craft and creative courses. Overlaps with the creative-education consumer and gift-purchase use case that drives CraftCourses' gift voucher business, but offers a curated, premium-priced content library rather than a multi-maker marketplace.
• Eventbrite: Large US-headquartered self-service ticketing and events platform widely used by independent workshop hosts to sell craft classes and small-group experiences. Comparable on the demand-side booking and ticketing mechanics, though it serves a far broader range of event categories beyond craft.
• Etsy: Global marketplace for handmade and craft goods with embedded workshops and craft supply categories. Overlaps on the handcrafted gifts and craft supply product lines that sit alongside CraftCourses' core workshop marketplace, and shares the mission of supporting independent makers, though Etsy's primary category is finished goods rather than experiences.
• Skillshare: US-headquartered online learning community with deep catalogue of creative and craft classes (illustration, ceramics, woodworking, etc.). Comparable to CraftCourses' online on-demand course format and creative-category breadth, but delivers purely digital content rather than in-person experiences.
• Udemy: Global marketplace for online courses across categories including arts and crafts. Overlaps with CraftCourses' online on-demand product line and marketplace model, but at much larger scale, broader subject matter, and lower price points.

Regional players

• ClassBento: Australia-focused marketplace for in-person craft workshops and experience classes, with a similar maker/supplier onboarding model and gift-voucher-led demand generation. Operates in a different geography (AU/NZ) but is essentially the same product category and business model as CraftCourses, making it a strong regional comparable.

Emerging players

• Fever: Global experiences marketplace for local leisure activities including workshops, food tours, and creative experiences. Comparable on the consumer-facing discovery and booking layer for leisure experiences, but with a much broader category mix and a different pricing model (operator-led rather than maker-led).
• Bookwhen: UK-based booking software platform purpose-built for classes, courses, and workshops including craft providers. Comparable on UK geography and small-maker booking infrastructure, but positions itself as a software tool rather than a discovery marketplace, so it competes more on the supply-side stack than on demand aggregation.

Direct peers

• Obby: UK-based marketplace for in-person craft and creative workshops connecting learners with independent makers. Directly comparable on geography, target audience, marketplace model, and supply-side proposition; arguably the closest head-to-head competitor to CraftCourses in the UK craft-workshops niche.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CraftCourses
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/craft-courses-limited

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 CraftCourses