Send A Smile

What Send A Smile does

Kaartje2go, operating under the consumer-facing name Send A Smile, is a Netherlands-based direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform founded in 2006 and headquartered in Rotterdam. The company enables individuals to design, personalize, and mail physical greeting cards and small gifts by uploading photos and text through a web and mobile interface, with the platform handling printing, packaging, and dispatch on the customer's behalf.

The core product is a customizable card-and-gift configurator backed by a template library, photo personalization tooling (including computer-vision-based background removal), and integrated logistics partnerships with PostNL, Trunkrs, and Packs. The company claims 95% next-day delivery coverage within the Netherlands via PostNL and same-day dispatch cut-off times. Feature extensions include video-on-card, handwritten card options, and foil printing, with a mobile application supporting saved address books and occasion-based calendar reminders. The platform serves over 1,000,000 customers and has accumulated more than 26,130 reviews averaging 9.2/10.

The business model is a transactional B2C e-commerce operation with revenue generated per card or gift order, complemented by charity-aligned marketing partnerships (KWF, CliniClowns, KNGF, KiKa, ALS, Nierstichting) that function as brand-building rather than revenue-driving activities. The company has expanded beyond the Netherlands into Belgium and Germany. It has operated without disclosed external funding across its 18-year history and maintains a lean team of 1-10 employees, suggesting a bootstrapped, cash-generative operating posture rather than venture-backed scaling. Recent recognition includes the Webwinkel van het Jaar 2026, Website van het Jaar 2025, and ABN AMRO Award 2025.

Name

Send A Smile

Legal name

Kaartje2go

Website

https://sendasmile.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Kaartje2go (Send A Smile) is a Dutch e-commerce platform that lets consumers design, personalize, and mail printed greeting cards and small gifts, serving over one million customers across the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Personalized Greeting Cards & Custom Stationery

NAICS

Greeting Card Publishers (513191), Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Retailers (459420)

SIC

Greeting Cards (2771), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Greeting Cards, Wrap & Party Supplies Retail (CRALAJAE)

Keywords

• Personalized greeting cards
• Custom photo cards
• Online card design
• Print-on-demand cards
• Personalized gifts marketplace

Headquarters

HQ city

Rotterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Card Sales: E-commerce sales of personalized greeting cards for various occasions including birthdays, births, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, and more. Cards are printed on-demand and shipped via postal service.
2. Gift Products: Sales of personalized gifts including balloons, flowers, plants, chocolate, toys, home decor items, wine, and custom-designed products like personalized mugs, puzzles, photo tiles, and growth charts.
3. Premium Accessories and Add-ons: Revenue from premium paper types, foil printing, address stickers, envelope seals, menu cards, welcome signs, wine labels, and other personalization accessories that enhance the card or gift.
4. Direct Shipping Service: Handles delivery of cards and gifts directly to recipients on behalf of customers, with options for same-day dispatch for orders placed before 21:00.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Send A Smile (operating as Kaartje2go) runs an online platform that lets customers design and order fully personalized greeting cards for occasions such as births, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, holidays, condolences, and graduations. The platform combines a browser-based card maker with CO2-neutral print-on-demand production and direct-to-recipient postal delivery, complemented by a curated marketplace of personalized gifts and third-party products like flowers, balloons, chocolate, and toys.

Product overview

Send A Smile (Kaartje2go) operates a dual-component e-commerce platform combining an online card design tool and a curated marketplace of gifts. The core product is the Online Kaartmaker, a browser-based design studio enabling users to create fully personalized cards using templates, photos, text, backgrounds, fonts, and decorative elements, with the option to add video messages or handwritten services. Physical cards and printed products are produced via CO2-neutral printing and delivered by mail. Surrounding this core tool, the company offers an extensive portfolio of card sub-categories (birth announcements, birthday, wedding, invitations, graduation, anniversary, congratulations, get-well, condolence, holiday, communion) and a complementary gifts marketplace (balloons, flowers, plants, chocolate, toys, home gifts). The product line extends to personalized custom products including tiles, posters, wine labels, night lamps, garden signs, photo calendars, flag garlands, address stickers, and seal stickers, as well as foil-printed premium cards. A shipping service handles direct-to-recipient delivery, including scheduled future delivery. The company holds Thuiswinkel Waarborg certification and has been recognized as Webwinkel van het Jaar 2026.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Online Kaartmaker (Card Maker) Browser-based design tool that lets customers select templates or start from a blank canvas, upload personal photos, write custom text, change backgrounds, fonts, and colors, and add frames and decorative elements; cards can be saved for later editing or ordered as prints.
• Birth Announcement Cards (Geboortekaartjes) Personalized birth announcement cards available with customizable text, photos, and premium paper types for new parents announcing a child.
• Birthday Cards (Verjaardagskaarten) Personalized birthday greeting cards for men, women, and children in styles including funny, with photo, and late, plus age-specific milestone designs.
• Wedding Cards (Trouwkaarten) Wedding stationery suite including save-the-date cards, engagement cards, wedding invitations, menus, thank-you cards, registered partnership cards, and complete wedding card sets.
• Invitations (Uitnodigingen) Personalized invitation cards for birthday parties, children's parties, baby showers, communions, confirmations, dinners, drinks, retirements, and photo-based invitations.
• Photo Cards (Fotokaarten) Cards designed around user-uploaded photos, including photo collage cards with multiple images arranged in custom layouts.
• Foil-Printed Cards (Foliedruk) Premium personalized cards with a luxurious metallic foil finish, available as an upgrade across special-occasion cards such as birth announcements.
• Personalized Gifts (Gepersonaliseerde Cadeaus) Customizable gift products including mugs, photo puzzles, beer and wine crates, growth charts, jewelry boxes, flag garlands, personalized lamps, and custom-designed chocolate, all produced in-house.
• Gifts Marketplace (Cadeaus) Curated marketplace of third-party gifts including balloons, flowers and plants, chocolate and sweets, toys, home gifts, and gift vouchers, organized by occasions such as birthday, birth, thank-you, get-well, wedding, and business.
• Business Cards (Zakelijke Kaarten) Personalized business card offerings for companies, including employee anniversary cards and other corporate celebration and client-relationship cards.
• Direct-to-Recipient Shipping Service (Verzendservice) Managed delivery service that ships cards, gifts, and personalized products directly to the customer's chosen recipient, with scheduled future-date delivery, next-day delivery within the Netherlands, and international shipping.
• Free Proof Print (Gratis Proefdruk) Free physical proof print of a card design that lets customers review the actual printed output, paper quality, and envelope color before placing a full order.
• Custom Tiles (Tegeltjes) Custom-designed decorative tiles, including birth-themed tiles, produced and sold as personalized products.
• Custom Posters Custom-designed poster prints with personalized content.
• Custom Wine Labels (Wijnetiketten) Personalized wine bottle labels for wedding and special-occasion celebrations.
• Photo Calendars (Fotokalenders) Personalized photo calendars that combine custom photos with calendar functionality, sold as a personalized gifting product.
• Address Stickers (Adresstickers) Pre-printed address labels for envelopes, helping customers address mailings without handwriting addresses.
• Seal Stickers (Sluitzegels) Decorative seal stickers for envelopes, adding a finishing touch to mailed cards.

Quantifiable outcome

• 95% of cards delivered next working day within Netherlands for orders placed before 21:00
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration11 records

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• KWF KankerbestrijdingminorOthersCharitable partnership where KWF has a dedicated card collection, with a portion of proceeds going to cancer research
• CliniClownsminorOthersCharitable partnership where CliniClowns has a dedicated card collection, with proceeds supporting their work with hospitalized children
• KNGF GeleidehondenminorOthersCharitable partnership supporting KNGF Guide Dogs with dedicated card collection
• KiKaminorOthersCharitable partnership where KiKa has a dedicated card collection, with proceeds supporting children with cancer
• Stichting ALSminorOthersCharitable partnership with ALS Foundation with dedicated card collection supporting ALS research
• NierstichtingminorOthersCharitable partnership with Kidney Foundation with dedicated card collection supporting kidney disease awareness
• PostNLcoreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary shipping partner handling delivery of cards and products within Netherlands and internationally. Offers same-day dispatch for orders before 21:00 with 95% next-day delivery rate

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Funky Pigeon: UK personalized cards and gifts retailer with online design tools and next-day delivery. Operates the same end-to-end consumer model for occasions like birthdays, weddings, and Christmas.
• Moonpig: UK-based personalized greeting card platform with a card-maker tool, scheduled delivery, and broad occasion catalog. Closest direct peer by product, model, and consumer occasion coverage.
• Paperless Post: Online invitation and stationery platform offering customizable designs for events and milestones. Comparable as a digital-first card and invitation designer targeting the same occasion-driven consumer occasions.
• Cardstore: US personalized greeting card service offering scheduled send and direct-to-recipient delivery. Comparable by print-on-demand model and occasion-based card retail.

Emerging players

• Postable: Online stationery and card retailer with address book features for direct mail. Comparable on personalization tooling and direct-to-recipient fulfillment for greeting cards.
• Greetabl: Niche personalized greeting platform bundling cards with small gifts in a single box. Comparable on the combined card-plus-gift offering and direct-to-recipient delivery model.
• Tinggly: Online gifting and experience gift retailer. Comparable on the personalized gift marketplace side of Send A Smile's offering, particularly for occasion-based gifting.
• Evite: Digital invitation platform with party planning features and premium physical options. Comparable on the occasion and invitation category, particularly for events like birthdays and weddings.

Broad incumbents

• American Greetings: Major US-based greeting card publisher with digital and physical channels. Comparable as a broad incumbent in the greeting card category that competes with personalized offerings.
• Hallmark Cards: Largest greeting card publisher and retailer globally, with broad card assortments and an expanding personalization platform. Comparable as the category incumbent and benchmark for occasion-based card retail.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/kaartje2go
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/send-a-smile-b.v.
• Instagraminstagram.com/kaartje2go
• Pinterestnl.pinterest.com/kaartje2go
• TikToktiktok.com/@kaartje2go
• Xx.com/sendasmilecom

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 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 Send A Smile