Wuzci.com closes its first investment round

UK gifting startup, Wuzci.com, closes its pre-seed round to grow its data-led subscription platform.

The round was led by a consortium of angel investors who have extensive experience in the printing, fulfilment & tech industry.

The company — founded in 2019 — aims to utilise automation & AI to solve the poor experience surrounding greetings cards and gifting — ensuring its customers never forget their occasions again, said CEO Adam Collingburn.

Adam admits the greetings card space has been fairly saturated for a while, but that it’s also somewhere that’s seen little, to no innovation since Moonpig launched over 20 years ago.

“This is a problem that should have been solved by now,” Adam said. “For me, and countless people I speak to, greetings cards are still hard to remember, inconvenient to buy, unsustainable and expensive. If there was a company doing this well, I would already be a customer instead of starting Wuzci.”

Old problem, new solution

Wuzci.com takes a different approach to the issue. While many platforms rely on customers remembering their occasions and coming to them for a card — Wuzci stores all your occasions (and all the data surrounding them) and then sends you the cards you need each month.

Another of Wuzci’s USP’s, is its rapidly growing artist platform — which allows independent artists to upload their designs and earn every time one is chosen.

“We want Wuzci to become a real home for artists” said Sophie Hargreaves, Co-founder & CDO. “Somewhere they can create, learn, improve and earn.”

Despite being built & bootstrapped in the weekends and evenings, Wuzci has grown really well, Adam said. The company will use the new capital to rapidly increase its growth rate, whilst continuing to develop new and exciting features — but at a much more rapid pace.

Ready For a Spooky October?

Spooky Season is upon us and it’s time to choose your cards for October! 🦇 🎃

We have a little something for everyone – whether it’s a cute card for your niece & nephew or something sassy for your bff.

Check out some of the Artists in this collection!

Rosie Fairholm

Rosie’s adorable collection is full of spooky puns and fang-tastic characters. These charming designs are great for all ages.

Rhianna Wurman

We love this whimsical pumpkin house design. It has all of our faves – bats, ghosties, stars and the festive squash itself.

Christine Jopling

The perfect card for your cheeky little witches. This would be perfect to use as an invitation for Halloween parties!

Sophie Hargreaves

This one says it all! After a full evening of trick or treaters and putting the little monsters in bed to rest, this is the card you really need!

You can browse our full collection of Halloween cards here!

Make sure you sign up and claim your first month completely free. That’s all of your occasions for October sorted and delivered right to your door! No hassle, no catch and it helps us support our fantastic team of Artists! If you don’t love us after that – we’ve got a 30 day money back guarantee to keep you covered! 👻

5 simple origami to put inside your cards

Ever find yourself with spare paper lying around? Do you fancy yourself as the creative type? If so, add some real flair to your greetings cards with our 5 simple origami tips.

For centuries origami, the art of “paper-folding” has been used as part of Japanese artistic tradition; with people worldwide creating intricate designs using small pieces of paper.

Here, we take a quick look at 5 origami themes you can incorporate into your cards.

A stork for a new baby

Storks are birds which are believed to be emissaries that bring babies to parents. Why not try your hand at creating this little fellow for your “new baby” card.

A star for congratulations

We all love to celebrate our friends and families achievements. Whether it’s something as simple as starting school or something as big as obtaining a degree. Achievements mean a lot for the people involved, and by going that extra mile and adding a little star in their card, you can really show them how proud you are.

Heart for Valentine’s Day

Step up your game and make sure your Love really knows how much you care about them by adding this cute, heart shape origami to their anniversary card this year.

A dragon for your child’s birthday

Now, this is a hard one. It might take you a while – and a few attempts – but with this intricate origami dragon, your little human is sure to love opening their card!

A flower for Mothers Day

Finally: didn’t manage to make it to the store to buy flowers? Fear not! Add this little origami rose to your card and you’ll surely stay in Mum’s good books for the rest of the year.

And there we have it. Five origami designs to try your hand at and make those cards extra special. Manage to make any of these? We’d love to see your creations in the comments below, or tag us in your Instagram posts using @wuzci 🙂

Whichever you choose, don’t forget to join Wuzci!

Wuzci takes all the hassle out of remembering to buy cards for all of your occasions. With our automated system, we’ll send you beautifully designed and hand-crafted cards from just £4/month. We’ll also send you friendly notifications straight to your e-mail to remind you about your upcoming events; so you’re always informed and always prepared.
What’s not to love? Try it now and get your first month of cards for free!

Top 5 Alternatives to Paperchase

Tired of travelling to town to buy your greetings cards and then having to pay a fortune for them?

We all know about Paperchase: the international stationery and card store that provide us with fabulously designed cards, but at rather eye-watering prices.

Without a doubt Paperchase has much fanfare and has been a dominant force in the paper industry over the past few years… However, with a price tag often in excess of £3.00 per card, most people we speak to tend to find it very expensive. Plus, if you want your Paperchase card delivered to your doorstep, you’ll need to pay an additional £2.99 postage fee… That’s 445% more than the cost of a 1st class stamp!

Not sure Paperchase is for you? Let’s take a look at a list of 5 alternatives that you may find appealing:

Clintons

For a high street store offering similar services and products, you’re unlikely to find a shop as akin to Paperchase as Clintons.

Following a complete rebrand, Clintons seem to have upped their game over the last few years. These changes have brought about fresher designs and a wider selection. Sadly however, this seems to have come at a cost to the customer, with card prices on the increase. This being said, we recently conducted a survey of all the cards on both Paperchase and Clintons’ websites and still found that the price per card was on average 12 pence cheaper from Clintons.

Moonpig/Funky Pigeon

By now, we all know about Moonpig and Funky Pigeon: whether it’s from the annoying adverts, strange name or slightly questionable card designs, these card retailers are huge businesses and seem to have got the ‘customisable online card market’ nailed.

Both these companies’ main selling point is that you can customise your greetings cards. They even take out the personal responsibility of writing your message, by providing you with an option for a type-faced note. Meaning you can send someone a card without having touched it before (neat!).

This service does however come at a price, with many of your Moonpig and Funky Pigeon cards costing between £3-£4 (for your standard size card). Not really a saving in comparison to Paperchase here – although delivery is far cheaper, at just the price of a postage stamp (67 pence).

Amazon

Ah, the big behemoth – surely they can solve this problem with their huge seller network, pricing power and free delivery via Prime, right? Well it turns out not.

While the quantity of cards on offer is good, they all kind of… looked the same. And not in a good way! On exploring Amazon’s card range for one of my occasions, I must have looked through 8 pages of results and didn’t see a single card that I’d actually send to my relative. What’s worse? They were still being sold at between £2-£5! Sorry Amazon, you’re do a great job when it comes to shopping for most items, but selling cards isn’t one of them.

Notonthehighstreet / Etsy

These marketplaces offer lots of beautiful designs and unique concepts; produced by very talented individuals. Want a 3D Flower garden on your Mothers Day card? A custom cut age on a birthday card? Or fancy a custom initialled valentines card for that special someone? Notonthehighstreet and Etsy are where it’s at!

Unfortunately, with card costs coming in at anywhere from £4-£30+ and delivery fees on top of that, they’re not a contender to beat Paperchase just yet! However, if unique and personalised is what you’re after and you aren’t too worried about the cost, we don’t think there are many places that compare.

Wuzci

Of course, we couldn’t be talking about cards without mentioning ourselves. We think we’ve cracked it. Beautifully designed cards, automatically delivered to your door for all your upcoming occasions from just £4/month.

No worrying, no stressing, no rushing to the shops 10 minutes before they close to pay through the nose for a card. Just the exact card you need, delivered on time, every month.

Our automated system will also send you friendly notifications to remind you about your upcoming occasions; so you’re always informed and always preparedTry it now and get your first month of cards for free!

We want to hear from you so drop us a line below and tell us about your experience buying greeting cards.

How to find the perfect birthday present

So, It’s birthday time! You’re super excited about buying that perfect gift that’ll make that special someone smile from ear to ear. But there’s one problem… You have no idea what to get them!

Finding the right birthday present, whether if it’s for a spouse, a child or a best friend, can be very challenging. Sometimes you just don’t know where to begin, especially when the birthday is just around the corner.

But here’s some good news!

We’ve made it easier for you to find that perfect birthday present or even a beautiful birthday card by sharing some quick tips that we are sure will help you to make the right choice:

1. Whose birthday is it?

This is a hugely important question. Why? Because the type of gift you buy depends on the receiver of course. For example, if it’s for a close family member, especially your spouse, or your parents, you will put in an added effort and go to extra lengths to buy a spectacular birthday gift because they deserve your effort. For friends and co-workers etc. you may think of gifting them something simpler, like a birthday card with a voucher or something a bit silly.

2. Buy a birthday present that conveys your emotions

Your birthday gift should convey your thoughts and emotions. Search for a birthday present that will show your recipient how you feel about him/her. Maybe you want your gift to inspire, to show that you appreciate their company, or even to just simply say how much you love them. Whatever it is, make sure that you find a birthday present that will show them how you feel without saying the words.

3. Play it smart

A few months before their birthday, start talking about things that you love and gifts that you like. This will automatically get them to tell you about their likes and preferences too. This then gives you a sneaky way to take notes of possible things you could buy them.

4. What do you laugh and talk about?

When you are together what do you laugh and talk about? What connects you the most? What do you love to do? Think about the things you have in common and draw inspiration from them to come with some great ideas.

5. Consider personal style and taste

Where does your best friend or spouse love to shop? Identify the stores that they love to visit when you are on a shopping spree. These stores usually have online catalogs that you can browse through. You will sure to find some interesting gifts for birthdays in them.

6. Check social media pages

Have you ever came up on some social media pages where people commented, “oh my God! I need this!” Yeah, we are sure you do. You will be surprised to know that you can find out a lot about what people want as gifts if you visit their social media pages. Look at the things they liked and commented on and make a note.

7. Browse websites

Browse websites for trending birthday gifts. There are several websites, for instance, Amazon, Etsy, NotOnTheHighStreet which have gift finder options. These websites make it easy for you to find the perfect birthday present, so go ahead and browse through them.

Now make a list

Make a list of the things you know the person likes. Spend time looking through websites and googling these ideas so you can start adding products to the list as well. It should then be really simple to narrow down your choices to the perfect one (Or maybe even a few if they’re smaller bits).

Don’t forget a card

No matter what you end up getting as a present – you’ll definitely need a card. By joining Wuzci you’ll never have to worry about buying a card again!

Our automated system lets you choose from 100’s of beautifully designed cards for all your occasions and delivers them directly to your door from just £4/month. We also send you friendly notifications to remind you about your upcoming occasions; so you’re always informed and always prepared. Try it now and get your first month of cards for free!

Do you have any tips of your own to share? Let us know below, we would love to hear from you.

How to stay organised with a busy schedule

Is your busy schedule getting you down?

Staying organised can sometimes be a challenge but at the end of the day, it can help you will eliminate stress, headaches and all the ailments that come with being disorganised.

Look at what happens when you are disorganised:

  • Your productivity decreases;
  • Your state of mind fills with clutter: mental clutter, physical clutter, informational clutter – all too much;
  • You could damage your professional reputation.

Not to worry though, we are here help you turn busy into easy and messy into organised, not matter how busy your schedule is.

Eliminate all clutter

This is first on the agenda.

Get rid of unwanted things from every area of your life, such as:

  • Mental clutter: Start your day with a fresh, positive outlook. Try to remove yourself from as many stressful situations as possible. And finally, if possible, get people to help take on some of your responsibilities (even if that means means paying them; for example a cleaner, an accountant,a gardener… or even a card delivery service 😉), so you can spend that extra focus on the things that matter in your life.
  • Physical clutter: No matter how clear your mental state is, there is no substitute for a messy environment. Whether that be at work or at home, ensuring as much as possible is away and clean will help you feel far more calm and focused.
  • Information clutter: With so much of our life online now – there’s increasing importance to clean up your email inbox, remove old files from your hard drive, and even delete old messages and apps.

Maintain clear communication

When we don’t communicate clearly, we can find ourselves being misunderstood, having to repeat ourselves or simply not getting to the bottom of something and feeling anxious. Each of these can, in turn, leads us right back to that cluttered state of mind.

Ensure that your messages, whether verbal or non-verbal, are clearly understood. Be open and honest to others about how you feel and what you think and they will do the same. It may also be helpful to read ‘How to make friends and influence people’ – to help with your communication, empathy and response to difficult situations.

Don’t procrastinate – Do it now!

Try hard not to put things off that can be done right away. If you have to clean the fridge, pay a bill, reply to an email – do it now instead of waiting. Tiny tasks like this can soon build into a mountain of work if left “until tomorrow”. Not only will taking this approach help you be more organised, you’ll actually feel really good for having a clean slate and will probably think to yourself; “Why was I putting that off? It only took 2 minutes!”

Focus on what matters

Every person on the planet has a finite amount of focus; a defined amount of attention they can give to things in their life. Whilst we can choose how we spend that focus, it can sometimes feel like it’s hard to control, when so many things crave it.

Whilst some tiresome, yet mandatory tasks will steal some of this focus, try to ensure you fill the rest of your calendar with important things that will excite, challenge, and make you happy.

Avoid and manage stress

This one is hard. Lots of things can cause us to be stressed, but by following these steps and becoming more organised a lot of these minor annoyances like being late and forgetful should become far less frequent. But when we do find ourselves in stressful situation, try move through it as quickly as possible and then a moment to reflect and on why that situation happened? How could it be avoided next time? How could I manage my emotions better?

Make room for quiet time

No matter what happened throughout the day, whether it was scary, exciting, unfortunate or favourable. Find some time to sit quietly and reflect. Focus on what you discovered, what you learnt and how you could improve tomorrow. Remember, reflection is one of the greatest tools in the quest for self-improve.

Manage your schedule

Life is often hectic, with so many appointments, meetings, errands and occasions to remember – there’s no wonder why we something forget to be somewhere. Most of these just require a calendar or diary so you can remind yourself where you’re meant to be and when.

… But it’s not so easy with occasions – putting an occasion in a calendar, just means you’re going to realise on the day that in a blind panic you need to:

  • Go to the shops to get a card
  • Message them to wish them well
  • Organise a meal or get together
  • And what about if you aren’t seeing them on that day and should have sent a card a few days ago via post…. 🙈

Luckily, we’ve solved this for you 🎉🥳

Wuzci take all this stress away, meaning you’ll never have to worry about missing another important date again! Our automated system will send you a beautifully designed and hand-crafted cards for every occasion from just £4/month. We also send you friendly notifications to remind you about your upcoming occasions; so you’re always informed and always prepared. Try it now and get your first month of cards for free!

How do you stay organised with a busy schedule? Drop us a line below, we would love to hear from you.

10 fantastic ideas on what to put inside your cards

Ever just looked at an empty birthday card and wished that you could put something more awesome than “Happy birthday, Susan – from Dave?”

Well, it’s possible!

Simple messages inside cards have become boring options and it’s time we tackled it.

Let’s look at 10 fantastic ideas that you can use instead of the traditional messages.

Write a poem in your card

A poem is a great thing to put inside a card. Poems help you to show off your ability to harness the power as a Wordsworth, and the time taken to create something so unique often shows that special someone just how much you adore them.

Draw something inside your card

Another highly artistic choice is drawings. They work pretty well for cards and present a more visual representation of what you want to convey. You don’t have to be Bob Ross to have a go, it could be something as simple are adding some paw prints if your including the dog in the ‘from’ section. Or even some stick figures depiction a memory you’ve shared.

Write some song lyrics inside your card

How many times have you heard a certain song that reminds you of someone special? If you have a really close relationship with this person and there’s a song that you both love, then writing a few of the songs lyrics inside your card is a sure way to make your card feel extra special. Instead of printing the song lyrics, write with your own handwriting to make it look personalised.

Use personalised quotes inside your cards

Similar to lyrics, a personalised quote can work well inside a card. Quotes are more often used in Good luck, Sorry or Valentines card but they could easily work for birthdays too. For example:

  • “It’s sad to grow old, but nice to ripen.” – Brigitte Bardot.
  • “Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be!” –Robert Browning
  • “The years teach much which the days never knew.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • “You know you’re getting older when the candles cost more than the cake.” –Bob Hope

Print some Photos

Inserting some photos inside your greeting cards is also an excellent idea, especially if you have ones of you together or one that have great meaning between you both. Most of us usually have some spare, 7-year old photo paper laying around that you’ve never used and even if not, you can go to a high street photo printer look Boots and print off some photos for less than £0.50! For an added touch why not cut the photos out and stick them into the card too.

Paintings are great for greeting cards

What? You actually have got some Bob Ross skills? Okay then, let’s grab a brush! Whilst it’s not a common thing to see, I’ve definitely come across people adding watercolour paintings to the inside of their cards and it certainly makes them stand out! We’d highly recommend painting onto a similar size blank card and then sticking it in – you don’t want to ruin your greeting card if the paint soaks in.

How about using glitter in your card?

Glitter is awesome, and certainly on of the best ways to add a little glamour to your message. Use it in moderation though, you don’t want your recipients carpet to be covered in glitter… or maybe you do!

Make a confetti flinger

The confetti flinger card might be a little bit of a new innovation, but it is definitely fun to spring on someone. It takes a little bit of effort to create, but in the end, you’ll find that it’s definitely worth the time when you’re done. Here is how to make a confetti flinger. Try it and let us know if it was fun for you.

Create your own vouchers

Even if you’ve already bought your recipient a gift, creating cute little vouchers like “1 Free Back Rub” or “IOU 1 Cheeseburger” are a really great way of adding some fun to your cards.

Origami

Putting origami inside your card is another choice of non-verbal communication that can go a long way as well. If you didn’t know, Origami is when we use paper in a decorative way to form things such as planes, horses, ducks, etc. People have been using origami centuries and we can use it to help express ourselves in our cards. We’ve written a great article on origami and show you how to make 5 great examples.

Whatever you decide to put in your card…

don’t forget to join Wuzci. We take all the hassle out of remembering and buying a card for all your occasions. Our automated system will send you a beautifully designed and hand-crafted cards for every occasion from just £4/month. We also send you friendly notifications to remind you about your upcoming occasions; so you’re always informed and always prepared. Try it now and get your first month of cards for free!

What else do you put inside your cards? Let us know below!

Why did we start Wuzci?

For what must have been the third time that month, I found myself jumping in the car and rushing to get to town before the shops closed. Thanks to my sieve-like brain, I’d once again forgotten an occasion (namely, my friends birthday) and needed to find a card before our get together that evening. As I waited in line, ready to hand over £4.50 for a pretty average-looking card; I thought to myself, “There’s got to be a better way than this”…

Nowadays, we have subscriptions services for dog food, coffee, sweets, even noodles! But nothing to actually help us remember and prepare for all those important occasions in our lives. This had to change… and so Wuzci was born!

After countless 24 hour days, sleepless coding sessions, endless prototyping, researching and bug fixing – Wuzci was alive. Our mission is simple:

To ensure you never forget another occasion again!

But whilst we’re at it, we may as well…

Save you money

Because we design and hand-craft our cards in-house, we cut out all the middlemen and pass the savings onto you. Meaning our prices are far more competitive than the high street, before you even factor in the travel costs like petrol, parking, train/bus fare in order to buy one from the shops.

Help the environment

We use recycled paper to create our cards and envelopes, print in the U.K with non-toxic inks, deliver with minimal emissions and even plant trees as part of our Green Tree Promise.

Develop your flare

Whether it’s tips on staying organised, finding the perfect presents or creating quirky things to put inside your cards for that personal touch. Wuzci will constantly bring you fun, educational content to transform you into a gifting superstar.

Support Independent Artists

Being creators ourselves, it is so important for us to support our Artists in a real way. We are using our platform to give Artists a space to share their designs and get their work into a customers hands. Money from each card bought from Wuzci will go directly to the Artist that designed it. That’s how it should be, right?

We’re only just scratching the surface of all the amazing things we want Wuzci to be and do – we hope you’ll come along with us for the journey.

Take a moment to browse through our rapidly expanding collection of designs and grab your first month of designs completely free.

See you online,

Adam Collingburn

Founder & CEO