ManoMano

Overview

ManoMano is a French online marketplace specialising in DIY, home improvement, gardening and building products. Founded in Paris in 2013 by Philippe de Chanville and Christian Raisson (both former private-equity/finance professionals and EDHEC graduates), it is a pure-play, verticalised marketplace: it holds no inventory and sells nothing under its own label, instead aggregating listings from thousands of vetted third-party retailers. It operates across six European markets — France, Spain, Italy, the UK, Germany and Belgium — serving more than 10 million active customers. The company reached unicorn status and a $2.6 billion valuation in 2021, but has since contracted alongside the post-COVID slump in home-improvement demand, cutting headcount and seeing GMV decline for two consecutive years, which is why its status here is marked “struggling.”

What they’re known for

ManoMano’s signature is being the go-to vertical marketplace for the hard-to-digitise DIY and home-improvement category — power tools, insulation, plumbing, garden sheds, drill bits and the like. Where generalist marketplaces struggle with bulky, technical, advice-heavy home products, ManoMano built a community-driven, category-specialist model (the name comes from the Spanish “mano a mano,” roughly “hand in hand”), pairing a huge long-tail catalogue with expert advice content. More recently it is known for ManoManoPro, its fast-growing B2B arm aimed at trade professionals, offering VAT-exclusive pricing, dedicated account managers and job-site delivery, plus AI tooling (“ManoPilot”) trained on its product catalogue.

History

• 2013 — Founded in Paris by Philippe de Chanville and Christian Raisson, launched as MonEchelle (“My Ladder”); raised ~€600k seed funding, personally vetting early sellers.
• 2015 — Rebranded to ManoMano to enable international expansion; entered Spain and Italy.
• 2016–2017 — Expanded into the UK and Germany; raised a €13M Series B (2016) and €60M Series C (2017).
• 2019 — Launched ManoManoPro, targeting construction and renovation professionals.
• Jan 2020 — Raised a ~€125M Series E; pandemic DIY surge pushed GMV to ~€1.2B.
• 2021 — Raised a $355M Series F led by Dragoneer, reaching a $2.6B valuation and unicorn status.
• 2022 — Peak GMV of €1.243B; planned to grow to 1,000+ staff.
• 2023–2024 — GMV declined to €1.141B then €1.0B amid a DIY-market downturn; restructuring cut ~230 jobs across France and Spain, reducing headcount toward ~600.
• 2025 — Dropped out of the French Tech Next40/120; co-founder signalled a push toward group profitability, with ManoManoPro targeting 25–30% of total GMV.

Business model

ManoMano is a third-party (3P) marketplace and takes no ownership of inventory. Its primary revenue is a category-based commission on each seller sale — reported in the range of roughly 15–20% (some categories cited up to ~25%) depending on the product type. It layers on additional revenue from seller subscriptions/monthly fees, fulfilment service fees and paid product placement/advertising. In FY2025, marketplace commissions were reported at around €210M, roughly 65% of the group’s ~€323M revenue. The B2B ManoManoPro segment (professional buyers with VAT-exclusive pricing and account managers) is the strategic growth engine, targeted to reach 25–30% of total GMV.

Why it succeeded

ManoMano’s early success came from identifying a large, underserved vertical: the home-improvement and gardening sector had lagged other retail categories in moving online because its products are bulky, technical and advice-heavy. By focusing exclusively on that niche rather than competing head-on with generalist marketplaces, ManoMano built deep category expertise, a long-tail catalogue of millions of SKUs from specialist sellers, and community/advice content that helped shoppers navigate complex purchases (per the Sacra and businessmodelcanvastemplate profiles). The asset-light, pure-play marketplace model let it scale a vast assortment across six European countries without carrying inventory, and the COVID-era DIY boom accelerated it to a €1.2B GMV and a $2.6B valuation in 2021 (Retail Gazette). Its more durable bet is verticalisation extended into B2B: ManoManoPro tailors the model to trade professionals with VAT-exclusive pricing, dedicated account managers and job-site delivery (Headline Bulletin) — a segment that has continued double-digit growth even as the consumer DIY market normalised post-pandemic.

Notable facts

• 10M+ active customers across 6 European markets (France, Spain, Italy, UK, Germany, Belgium).
• ~5,000 vetted third-party sellers and roughly 10–19 million product SKUs listed.
• $2.6B valuation reached in 2021 after a $355M Series F led by Dragoneer.
• ~$708–725M raised in total since founding (investors include Dragoneer, Temasek, General Atlantic, Eurazeo, Bpifrance).
• FY2025 group revenue ~€323M, of which ~€210M (≈65%) was marketplace commissions.
• GMV: €1.243B (2022) → €1.141B (2023) → €1.0B (2024), a ~20% two-year decline.
• Headcount cut from 1,000+ (late 2022) toward ~600 by mid-2025; ~230 roles removed across France and Spain.

Links

Title	URL	Type	Note
ManoMano (official site)	https://www.manomano.com/	official-site	Home page of the DIY/home-improvement marketplace
ManoMano revenue, valuation & funding — Sacra	https://sacra.com/c/manomano/	report	Financials: GMV, valuation, commission structure, ManoManoPro
ManoMano hits $2.6bn valuation after Series F — Retail Gazette	https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2021/07/manomano-hits-2-6bn-valuation-after-raising-355m-in-series-f-funding/	news	2021 Series F round and valuation
ManoMano raises USD 355 mln in Series F — The Paypers	https://thepaypers.com/payments/news/manomano-raises-usd-355-mln-in-series-f-funding-round	news	Series F investor list and market footprint
New French unicorn: ManoMano raises €299.43M — Silicon Canals	https://siliconcanals.com/manomano-raises-299-43m/	news	Series F detail and earlier Series E context
French startup ManoMano tops $2bn valuation — Yahoo Finance	https://finance.yahoo.com/news/french-e-commerce-startup-manomano-220347554.html	news	Valuation, total raised, founder commentary
ManoMano launches B2B service in the UK — Headline Bulletin	https://hbuk.co.uk/manomano-uk	news	ManoManoPro UK launch for trade professionals
Everything you need to know about the ManoMano marketplace — Meezy	https://www.meezy.eu/post/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-manomano-marketplace	article	Seller-side view: commissions, fees, traffic
ManoMano: The Meaning, History and Story — Top Bubble Index	https://www.topbubbleindex.com/blog/manomano-meaning-history/	article	Name origin, founders, founding history
Brief History of ManoMano — Business Model Canvas Template	https://businessmodelcanvastemplate.com/blogs/brief-history/manomano-brief-history	article	Milestone timeline from 2013 onward