Big Bee

What Big Bee does

Big Bee is a French artisanal micro-enterprise that designs, produces, and sells handcrafted personalized wood and acrylic ornaments and stationery for life-event gifting occasions including Christmas, births, weddings, and memorials. The company manufactures products in-house at a single workshop in Beaupréau-en-Mauges (Maine-et-Loire), using 3mm wood and acrylic (plexiglas) materials with laser cutting/engraving and custom printing; its product lines include Christmas balls (boules de Noël), gingerbread decorations, gift and stocking tags, personalized birth announcement posters on 230g/m² matte paper, milestone/pregnancy tracking cards, wedding stationery, and funeral/memorial items sold under a sub-brand called Memory Bee.

The business operates a direct-to-consumer model through its Shopify-powered storefront at bigbee.fr, with prices ranging from €7.50 for gift tags to €27.90 for milestone cards, a €2 gift-wrapping add-on, and free relay-point shipping in metropolitan France for orders over €89. The company also enables international shipping to 100+ countries, Click & Collect at the workshop, and supports Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Carte Bleue, and PayPal via Stripe payment processing. Customer segments are primarily individual consumers in two core use cases — new/expectant parents and Christmas enthusiasts — with secondary segments in weddings, memorial products, and a nascent B2B/Pro section.

Big Bee is wholly owned and operated by founder Aude Ingolotti Agaise as a French micro-entrepreneur (SIRET 90176595800029). The venture originated as a side project called Le Petit Papetier in January 2020 and was relaunched and rebranded as Big Bee approximately three years later, when the founder left her 15-year design career to run the business full-time. The company is bootstrapped with no external funding, no parent company, no M&A activity, and a headcount in the 1-10 range, operating primarily in France with international shipping reach.

Name

Big Bee

Legal name

Big Bee, Aude INGOLOTTI AGAISE

Website

https://bigbee.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Big Bee is a French artisan micro-enterprise that handcrafts and sells personalized wood and acrylic ornaments, stationery, and memorial products for life-event gifting occasions (Christmas, births, weddings, memorials) directly to consumers via its Shopify storefront.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Personalized Handcrafted Gifts and Stationery

NAICS

Stationery Product Manufacturing (322230), Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Retailers (459420)

SIC

Greeting Cards (2771)

akta.pro primary industry

Stationery & Office Paper Products (notebooks, pads, forms) (IMAMAHAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Party & Entertaining Disposable Supplies (CRAJAGAL)

Keywords

• Personalized wooden ornaments
• Custom acrylic decorations
• Artisanal event stationery
• Handmade christmas keepsakes
• Custom birth announcement gifts

Headquarters

HQ city

Beaupréau

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Product Sales: Direct-to-consumer sales of personalized artisanal products including Christmas decorations, birth announcements, gift tags, and memorial items. Products are handmade to order with per-transaction pricing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Big Bee manufactures and sells personalized wood and acrylic ornaments, stationery, and keepsakes for special events such as weddings, births, Christmas, and memorials. All products are handmade in the company's workshop in Beaupréau-en-Mauges, France, and are customizable with names, dates, and engravings. Orders are fulfilled via a Shopify-based online store with both domestic and international shipping as well as click-and-collect.

Product overview

Big Bee is an artisanal craft business offering handcrafted personalized products celebrating life's moments. The product portfolio centers on Christmas decorations (wood and acrylic ornaments, gift tags, stocking tags, gingerbread decorations), birth and childhood items (birth announcements, posters, milestone cards), wedding stationery, and funeral memorial products. All creations are handmade in their Maine-et-Loire workshop, using wood and acrylic materials with 3mm thickness. Products are customizable with names, colors, and engravings, and are sold primarily through their Shopify e-commerce platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Memory Bee: A sub-brand offering personalized and modern creations for funeral/memorial purposes, including memorial plaques, memorial decorations, memory symbols, and pet memorial items.

Products and services

• Personalized Wooden Ornaments Wood ornaments personalized with names, dates, and engravings, handmade in the Big Bee workshop and intended for occasions such as births, weddings, Christmas, and memorials. Targeted at individual consumers looking for a customized keepsake.
• Personalized Acrylic Ornaments Acrylic ornaments personalized with names, dates, and engravings, produced on demand in the Big Bee workshop. Designed as keepsakes for events such as births, weddings, Christmas, and memorials and sold directly to consumers.
• Custom Event Stationery Personalized stationery items (such as event-related cards, tags, and decorative paper goods) made in the Big Bee workshop and tailored to occasions including weddings and births. Sold directly to consumers organizing these events.
• Personalized Memorial Keepsakes Personalized keepsakes intended for memorial occasions, made from wood and acrylic and engraved with names, dates, or short messages in the Big Bee workshop. Targeted at individual consumers commemorating a loved one.

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• ShopifycoreTechnology or IntegrationE-commerce platform powering the bigbee.fr online store. Provides storefront, payment processing, order management, and customer checkout infrastructure.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationSecure payment processing provider for online transactions. Supports credit card payments including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Carte Bleue.
• Transporteurs LogistiquescoreOthersShipping partners who deliver parcels to customer addresses and relay points with tracking numbers. Colis shipped with tracking numbers within 15 business days of payment receipt.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Madame Iris: French artisanal e-commerce brand producing personalized wooden and acrylic decorative items (frames, boxes, ornaments) for weddings, births, and family events — almost identical product format, customer segment, and DTC Shopify model as Big Bee.
• My Family Story: French personalized gift brand offering customized wooden decorations, birth announcements, and family keepsakes via Shopify — overlapping target customer (parents and gift-givers) and production approach (laser-engraved wood/acrylic).
• Un Grand Marché: French online marketplace aggregating artisanal makers offering personalized home décor, stationery, and gift items — competes for the same artisan personalized-gifting search intent and customer base in France.
• Mint & May: French/European personalized wood décor brand offering custom family name signs, ornaments, and nursery décor via DTC e-commerce — directly comparable product line and customer (new parents and home decorators).
• Pretty Drop: French personalized stationery and event décor brand for weddings and births, sold DTC — overlaps significantly with Big Bee's wedding stationery and birth announcement offerings.
• Worthwhile Personalized Gifts (Etsy): Etsy is the dominant marketplace for handmade personalized wood and acrylic ornaments; thousands of peer sellers operate within it, offering near-identical Christmas ornaments and birth décor at competitive price points and serving the same customer.
• Papier: DTC personalized stationery brand offering customized cards, notebooks, and baby announcements — competes directly for the stationery portion of Big Bee's catalog and shares the gift-oriented, design-led positioning.
• Artifact Uprising: Premium DTC brand for personalized photo prints, birth announcements, and memory keepsakes — overlapping premium personalized-stationery positioning and target customer (parents, gift-givers).

Broad incumbents

• Notonthehighstreet: UK-based curated marketplace for personalized gifts and artisanal homewares — broader incumbent in the personalized-gift e-commerce space that aggregates hundreds of small makers similar to Big Bee.
• Things Remembered (Personal Creations): Large North American personalized-gifts retailer offering engraved ornaments, frames, and stationery at scale — illustrates the competitive pressure from larger incumbents with similar categories and broader distribution.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• Instagraminstagram.com/bigbee.fr
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bigbeeapp

Compliance1 record

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 Big Bee