A lot has happened at Karteo® since its formation in 2011. Having started as a one-man operation, Karteo® has become a global company for trade fair and presentation supplies, with more than 100,000 satisfied customers. From ID card holders to lanyards, from card printers to security technology, we sell our products to large industrial concerns, retailers and end users. Based in Berlin and close to the exhibition centre, we are able to supply local companies and exhibitors quickly and cost-effectively.
Purchasing card protectors and badge holders with clips should be easy for individuals to arrange over the Internet. When the company's founder, Stefan Gutowsky, was writing his industrial engineering course dissertation, the idea arose - rather coincidentally, from a conversation with his company boss, Dr Ing. Hanno Sponholz (owner of the MoTechno company) - to distribute high-quality products directly to final consumers.
Stefan Gutowsky (today Karteo GmbH Managing Director) soon realised that there was a big demand for ID card holders, lanyards, etc. As well as attending lectures, he developed a retractable badge holder, designed to be superior to previous products in terms of operation, durability and colour choice. The first in-house product in the karteo.de® range
It was all getting too tight in a single student room, so on 07.02.2015 an office is rented out. At the same time, the brand is filed with the German Patent and Trademark Office, too.
The initial rented office soon becomes too small, and the day-to-day business can no longer be handled by one person. New space is rented out and additional staff taken on.
In order to be able to respond quickly when required to the strong increase in demand, a new 250 m² warehouse is built and commissioned in 2015.
Initially, all products were manufactured at just one location. Gradually, more locations were added. Nowadays, products are manufactured for Karteo® at more than five locations.
The karteo.de® and Karteo® brands were registered in 2015.
Similarly, the following domains were registered, due to gradual expansion across Europe:
karteo.de, karteo.fr, Karteo.at, karteo.es, karteo.it, karteo.com
The Berlin headquarters manage overall order processing, and coordinates warehouse processing. Ten warehouse locations in Europe allow nationwide supply across European markets.
Manufacturing takes place globally at the following locations:
Germany: Schwaigern
Belgium: Hilversum
USA: Gold River
Sweden: Stenkullen
United Kingdom: Cheshire
China: Shenzhen City
Our products are found in many different industry sectors. Our products have a valuable role to play wherever controlled access to somewhere is required:
This begins with card printers and corresponding blank cards, which can be personalised using photos, logos and other details, and on to matching badge holders, lanyards and carabiner badge reels. If required, cards can be coded with chips so that credit can be topped up, for paying in company canteens, or for gift vouchers.
Either smart cards with conventional memory chips are available for this, or RFID chips allowing wireless connection to the relevant reader. Entry control using personalised plastic cards is now widespread in almost all businesses and many public bodies, such as government offices and hospitals. Clubs, gyms, societies, etc. use plastic cards as membership cards.
They are also used at many different events such as trade and consumer fairs, conferences, meetings, concerts, sporting fixtures and more.
Lanyards with retractable reels, printed with company logo and other information, have also become a popular freebie and are given away as merchandise at major events. Banks and other coded plastic card issuers like to include a personalised card holder as a small gift when sending out their cards.
However, we supply not only plastic cards and accessories, but also perforated thick paper for printing individual paper ID cards in various formats, as well as matching plastic sleeves. Gate control is simple and straightforward using colourful wristbands, recommended for concerts, festivals and similar events. We supply a range of wristbands in numerous colours that can be printed individually.
Magnetic boards make it easy to put up and change printed lists at many different locations: the weekly menu at the entrance to the company cafeteria, the meeting schedule outside the conference room or changing the daily menu at the restaurant or bistro.
We are also happy to manufacture special items for you. Just ask using the contact form, or telephone.
Our quality and customer satisfaction is assured by our seal and our rating. Karteo® is a certified Trusted Shop, and rated "very good" by our customers. On Trustami too, where order feedback is collected from all platforms, we have been given the maximum number of stars by our customers (5 out of 5 for over 10 years)
