When we started our online businesses back in 1997, the digital landscape was vastly different. As we’ve grown alongside the internet over time, one thing became increasingly clear to me: European businesses need truly European solutions.
The Problem We Saw
For years, I watched as European developers and businesses had limited options: either use American email services that stored data overseas, or struggle with complex, self-managed email infrastructure that required significant technical expertise to maintain proper deliverability.
Often, I spoke with clients who faced the same challenges:
“We need to ensure our data stays in Europe for compliance reasons.” “Our transactional emails are ending up in spam folders.” “Setting up and maintaining DKIM, SPF, and DMARC is too complex for our team.”
These weren’t just technical problems – they were business problems affecting customer experience, trust, and ultimately, success.
Our European Vision
We created the Simple Email Service with a distinctly European perspective. Being 100% Dutch-owned with no external investors means we make decisions based on European values and needs, not quarterly shareholder expectations from across the Atlantic.
We built our service around three core principles:
- Data sovereignty matters – Your data stays in Dutch datacenters, managed on our own hardware that nobody else has access to. This isn’t just about regulatory compliance; it’s about having control over your digital footprint.
- Reliability shouldn’t be complex – Our systems are redundantly distributed across multiple locations in the Netherlands, designed to send millions of messages per hour with features like MX rollup that optimize delivery. The average delivery time to Gmail is just 1.54 seconds.
- Trust is earned through transparency – As an ISO-certified company that’s been “building on the digital highway” since 1997 (yes, we’re that old! 🤓), we believe in being completely transparent about our operations.
A Personal Note
What truly drives me is creating technology that makes complex problems simple. Email delivery shouldn’t be something that keeps developers up at night or forces businesses to compromise on their European values.
The Simple Email Service isn’t just another product in our portfolio – it represents our vision for digital sovereignty in Europe. It’s built by Europeans, for Europeans, with an understanding of the unique regulatory, technical, and cultural landscape we operate in.
When you use our service, you’re not just sending emails; you’re supporting a European digital ecosystem where data sovereignty, reliability, and trust aren’t optional features – they’re foundational principles.
That’s why we created the European Simple Email Service, and why I’m personally committed to its continued evolution and success.
Mark Kraakman
Co-Founder & CTO
