PARIS (Reuters) – French online home improvement retailer ManoMano reached $2.6 billion in valuation after a $355 million fundraising led by investment firm Dragoneer, it said on Tuesday.
San Francisco-based Dragoneer has previously invested in well-known digital companies such as Airbnb, Slack Technologies and Spotify. Other shareholders that participated in the fundraising include Temasek, General Atlantic, Eurazeo, Bpifrance, Aglaé Ventures, Kismet Holding and Armat Group, ManoMano said.
ManoMano had already reached so-called “unicorn” status — for companies valued over $1 billion — last year via a previous $125 million fundraising, its co-founder Christian Raisson said in a call.
Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic fuelled demand for do-it-yourself home improvement products, and the trend is here to stay, with no sign of the market growing saturated, Raisson added.
ManoMano’s latest fundraising brings the total amount raised by the company to $725 million since its creation in 2013, it said. It disclosed neither the financial terms of its fundraisings nor its shareholding structure.
ManoMano competes against large holding groups like Adeo and Kingfisher as well as e-commerce giant Amazon in the home improvement field.
It said the new funds will allow it to more than double its staff by recruiting 1,000 people by the end of 2022 and grow in Germany and Britain. The company, which has 50 million unique visitors per month across its platforms, also operates in Belgium, Italy and Spain.
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Peter Graff)
