Cimpress

About Cimpress

What if any small business could access the same high-quality, custom marketing materials as a large corporation? This was the question that sparked the creation of Cimpress. Today, Cimpress is a global leader in mass customization, offering everything from business cards and promotional products to apparel and packaging through a portfolio of online brands. The story begins in 1995 in a small Paris apartment, where founder Robert Keane started a company called Bonne Impression. His goal was to solve a common problem for small business owners: getting access to professional-looking marketing materials in small, affordable batches. Initially, the business focused on selling desktop publishing software and specialty papers. A major turning point came in 1999 when the company embraced the internet, rebranding as Vistaprint and launching a web-based platform. This move allowed them to aggregate massive numbers of small orders, pioneering a model of mass customization that dramatically lowered costs. The company's growth accelerated, leading to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq in 2005. To reflect its expanding vision beyond the Vistaprint brand, the parent company was renamed Cimpress in 2014. This new identity signaled a strategic shift towards building a portfolio of brands, often through acquisition. Key acquisitions like National Pen and BuildASign further diversified its product offerings. Today, Cimpress operates as a multi-brand powerhouse, with Vistaprint as its most well-known subsidiary. The company continues to invest heavily in its technology platform, aiming to enhance its manufacturing capabilities and expand into new product categories to fuel future growth.