The French startup ManoMano has raised €125 million in a Series E funding round, to further develop its online marketplace for home improvement and gardening products, according to EU-startups.com.
Founded in 2013, the company has now raised a total of €310 million.
Last year was a banner year for ManoMano. The company grew 50 percent in 2019, reaching €600 million in gross merchandise value, expanding into international markets, including the UK, Spain, Germany, and Italy. These markets now account for a third of the company’s total sales.
In April, they announced another funding round totaling €110 million.
According to co-founders Philippe de Chanville and Christian Raisson:
“We are reimagining the standards of specialised DIY, home improvement and gardening at a European scale. We have to move very fast to beat traditional players and e-commerce giants. To allow each of our markets to follow the success of our French business, it is essential that we adapt to each European market, by creating the best local offer in each country, building active communities and developing innovative services.”
ManoMano pitches itself as a specialized platform for DIY home improvement, offering the kind of personalized support that isn’t normally available while online shopping, often crucial for DIY projects.
To compete with larger, more generalized e-commerce platforms, ManoMano allows customers to chat with Manodvisors, experts and community enthusiasts who are certified to provide advice on DIY home improvement projects. Customers are taking advantage of this service—one million conversations with Manodvisors took place in 2019, bringing online shoppers some of the benefits of brick-and-mortar stores.
It also now offers Mano Fulfillment service, a logistics service that works directly with third-party retailers.
Another new service, called ManoMano Pro, is aimed at professional customers. These customers generally place larger orders, and although the service has only been offered since late 2018, it already accounts for 10 percent of sales in France.
The new funding round was led by Temasek, with participation from General Atlantic, Eurazeo, Piton Capital, Bpifrance, and Kismet Holdings.
ManoMano expanded their staff by 200 in 2019, to reach a total of 420. With the new funding, they plan to hire another 200 employees for offices in Bordeaux and Barcelona, and to expand their network of certified Manodvisors.