PARIS (REUTERS) - French online home improvement retailer ManoMano reached US$2.6 billion (S$3.5 billion) in valuation after a US$355 million fund-raising led by investment firm Dragoneer, it said on Tuesday (July 6).
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 fund-raising include Singapore's Temasek, General Atlantic, Eurazeo, Bpifrance, Aglae Ventures, Kismet Holding and Armat Group, ManoMano said.
ManoMano had already reached so-called "unicorn" status - for companies valued at more than US$1 billion - last year via a previous US$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, Mr Raisson added.
ManoMano's latest fund-raising brings the total amount raised by the company to US$725 million since its creation in 2013, it said. It disclosed neither the financial terms of its fund raisings 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 next year 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.
