Problem
They build everything. The financial system serves them nothing.
400M tradespeople. Europe's most underbanked business owners. Not because they're risky - because they've been ignored.
Personal accounts used for business. 60-90 day payment waits. No credit history - not because they're a bad risk, but because no institution has ever tried to measure them.
The reason nobody has solved this is the same reason the opportunity is so large: tradespeople are offline, fragmented across hundreds of trades, and resistant to downloading new software. The fintech industry - obsessed with consumer apps, crypto, and enterprise SaaS - has left them entirely alone. You have to meet them where they already are. Where they are is WhatsApp.
Solution
Start where they already work. Become their bank from there.
No app. No branch. No friction. Just a WhatsApp message.
A tradesperson sends a voice note or text. In seconds: professional invoice, payment link, expense log, VAT record. The same thread they use to talk to customers becomes their financial command centre.
Larger jobs aren't one invoice and one payment. They're deposit, staged releases on milestones, final sign-off. No payment product is built around it. We now cover it end-to-end: two-way quote approvals, deposit on acceptance, staged escrow release, auto-release on completion. Vertical payment infrastructure for trades.
Every neobank worth backing started by owning one workflow. Revolut won FX. Monzo won spending visibility. Mercury won the startup bank account. Manano wins the job-to-cash cycle for tradespeople - then expands into the full financial relationship from there.
The product today handles invoicing, quoting, expenses, VAT, and staged payments. Mollie, Trustap and Mangopay in early conversations for the escrow layer. The primary business account is next. Then lending - underwritten on the richest cash-flow data ever assembled for this segment.
The Plan
Four steps. Each earns the right to the next.
A sequenced land-and-expand into a full financial relationship.
Win the workflow
Invoices, quotes, expenses, VAT - all via WhatsApp. Earns the daily habit and the data. Without this, nothing else is possible.
Own the payment
Every invoice becomes a payment event. But larger jobs need more: deposit on acceptance, staged milestone releases, final sign-off. We're building end-to-end payment infrastructure for trades - not just payment links.
Unlock embedded lending
Banks underwrite on personal credit scores. We underwrite on invoice volume, payment patterns, repeat customers, seasonal cash flow. Data no bank can access. The highest-margin product in the stack - and the most defensible.
Become the primary account
Manano IBAN + debit card via licensed EMI partner. Business income flows in. Float income activates. Switching costs become real. The full neobank for trades.
Business Model
Nine revenue layers. Each one compounds the others.
Not another shitty SaaS. A full financial stack where every layer improves the model for every other.
Immediate - Live or shipping now
| Layer | Product | At Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Workflow OS - invoicing, VAT, expenses Free during growth phase | €180M ARR |
| Payment fees | 1.75% on invoice transactions €6B card volume target | €105M ARR |
| Quote deposits | 2% on deposit-on-acceptance flows Quotes ~70% of invoice vol, 25% deposit = €1.2B | €24M ARR |
| Escrow fees | 2% on milestone/staged release flows €3.6B escrow volume | €72M ARR |
Long-term - Enabled by data moat
| Layer | Product | At Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Risk-as-a-Service | Trade credit scoring for builders merchants Travis Perkins wrote off £27M last year. We price losses prevented. | €30-60M ARR |
| Origination referral | Pre-qualified trades to lender partners Zero capital required | €5-10M ARR |
| Embedded lending | We underwrite, partner funds. 3-5% TAM capture UK+EU trades SME TAM: €60-80B | €35-115M ARR |
| Credit insurance | Insurance on the lending book Standard fintech layer | €7-12M ARR |
| Milestone advances | Advances against approved escrow milestones Lowest-risk lending in the stack | €15-20M ARR |
At 250K users and ~€12B TPV: total platform ARR ~€300M. ~€145M from lending alone. Every loan through any layer improves the model for every other. The partnerships and data are the compounding asset - and it's regulated. Our invoice and payment data is the cleanest underwriting signal for trade finance that exists. Lenders cut defaults on a segment they currently misprice and become a distribution channel back into us.
Traction
€12.4M+ in business activity. Under 12 months.
Real usage. Real retention. Real need.
98% organic acquisition. Word-of-mouth, no programme, no incentives. Latest cohort shows k-factor of 3 - a professional invoice appearing instantly in WhatsApp is self-evident proof. The product sells itself to exactly the right audience at near-zero cost.
84% of activated users use invoicing. Leading builders merchant partnership now closed at leadership level - 26 stores across Ireland and the UK. Phase two brings their product into Manano and turns every desk and rep into a Manano sales rep.
Defensibility
Our moat is data no bank can see.
Banks see credit scores. We see real business: income, spend, customers, work history.
Run your business from WhatsApp
Quotes, invoices, payments, expenses - all from a single chat. No app to download, no dashboard to learn. While they work, we're silently building their credit score from real transaction data. They don't even know it yet.
Credit history that doesn't exist anywhere else
Tradespeople have no credit history - not because they're inactive, but because nobody captured it. We are. Every invoice, every payment, every job completed. The longer we run, the deeper our data moat.
Partners, not desk sales
Most fintech sells from the desk. We go to builders merchants and suppliers - where tradespeople already are. 26 stores of sales reps become our sales reps. Pull distribution that advertising can't replicate.
Lenders need us, then distribute us
We're building the data layer lenders need to underwrite a segment they currently misprice. They cut defaults, we become their acquisition channel. UK+EU trades SME TAM is €60-80B.
The neobank for trades
Wallets, lending, credit lines, insurance - the full stack. As we grow, this becomes a regulated play. Proprietary data plus regulatory surface creates compounding barriers no one can shortcut.
Market
A €10T market hiding in plain sight.
Massive, underserved, and already on WhatsApp.
| Global tradespeople / market | 400M+ / €10T+ |
| UK+EU trades SME lending TAM | €60-80B |
| Serviceable via WhatsApp | 100M+ |
| Target users (250K) | ~€12B TPV |
| Platform ARR at scale | ~€300M |
| Lending ARR alone | ~€145M |
Comparable businesses: Revolut (€40B), Mercury, Relay - all won by owning the primary account before layering financial products. Manano's edge is the WhatsApp wedge: zero-friction adoption in the channel tradespeople already live in, with a distribution advantage no direct-to-consumer fintech can replicate cheaply. The lending layer is where the real returns compound.
Go-to-Market
Distribution is everything. We just unlocked it.
None of it matters without distribution. The next two years are aggressive distribution and network effects.
Builders Merchant Partnership - 26 Stores
Closed at leadership level. Ireland and UK. Phase two turns their desks and reps into Manano sales reps. This is the GTM unlock that requires capital now.
Word of Mouth - K-factor 3
98% organic acquisition. Latest cohort k-factor of 3. Professional invoice appearing in WhatsApp is self-evident proof. CAC <€25.
Supplier Networks
Builders' yards onboard users at point of purchase. Suppliers pull because Manano accelerates their cash collection - and we can score trade credit risk for them.
Lenders as Distribution
Lenders cut defaults on a segment they misprice and become a distribution channel back into us. They need our data. We need their reach.
Roadmap
Speed round. Aggressive UK GTM.
Builders merchant partnership gives us the distribution leg-up. This round deploys fast.
- €12M+ activity
- 420+ users, 72% activation
- K-factor 3
- Payment links live
- Merchant deal closed
- Merchant 26 stores live
- UK market entry
- Staged escrow shipping
- Phase 2: reps → sales
- 2,000+ users
- Risk-as-a-Service live
- Lender partnerships
- €100M+ monthly volume
- Embedded lending
- Series A
Team
Battle-tested co-founders with exits and scars.
Built companies, sold them, survived earn-outs, started again, failed, and starting again. They know each other. This is not their first rodeo.
David Coallier
Repeat founder. 3 exits including to Sophos, and EngineYard. Leads product, distribution, and company building.
Clodagh Monks
20 years in finance and compliance. Leads finance, risk, and operational scale.
Ross Duggan
AI infrastructure and large-scale systems. Leads architecture and technical execution.
The Ask
Raising €1.2M SAFE. Deploying now.
Builders merchant partnership closed. 26 stores. UK entry. This is the GTM unlock. We need to move.
€8.75M cap
Use of Funds
- 55% - UK GTM with merchant partner
- 25% - Engineering (escrow, lending prep)
- 10% - AI & tokens
- 10% - Ops & compliance
Target Outcomes
- 26 merchant stores live
- UK market established
- 5× user growth (~2,000+)
- Staged escrow shipped
- Series A ready