Maurici Badia started out in the courtyard of his family home five years ago, after being fired from the biotech company he worked for and living for several years in China and Latin America. He had just finished the lease. It was inspired by Pinterest. And he realized that no one was selling what he was looking for: sustainable, handmade, made of wood… Then he decided to upload photos of his furniture to Wallapop and learned how in demand it could be. Orders came to him. And immediately started billing 5,000 Euros. “This is how I validated that artisanal, eco-friendly and low-carbon furniture makes sense,” he says.
With the help of the Demion startup incubator, where he found his current partner, Joan Álvarez, he has shaped a company that is now about to go public. Hannun is a name from North Africa meaning “hand”.
They billed 300,000 Euros in their first year of operation. Second, 1.2 million. In the third year they exceeded 3.6 million euros and closed 2021 with 4.5 million in revenue. “This year, we expect to place the turnover between six and seven million euros,” says Badia. 50% of total sales already come from abroad, mainly from France and Germany, and later Italy and Portugal.
Being born under the protection of a startup incubator gave them the support of business angels right from the start. They raised 200,000 euros in the first funding round, followed by three more. In the latter, they raised three million euros in 2021—with their initial goal of reaching two million—and investors such as Naturitas creator Josep Casas joined in; Javier De la Rosa from MiFarma; AB Biotics co-founders Sergi Audivert and Miquel Angel Bonachera or venture capital firm Ship2B through investment vehicle Equity4Good.
In fact, the interest Hannun evoked seems to have exceeded all expectations, and from there came the idea of becoming a listed company. “The aim of this 2022 is to go public specifically to BME Growth in Barcelona to provide greater capital inflow and offer more flexibility to investors,” says the furniture company founder.
Badia, a trained engineer and born in Matadepera, remembers an important moment during these years when they decided to outsource production. “We see that there is an important decision to be made over time: either we are good at branding or we are good at manufacturing.” So, they started contacting the craftsmen to make the furniture they had in mind.
Currently, in addition to the 80 workers on its staff, there is a network of 30 artisans scattered across Spain and Europe, who “must meet the required quality standards, have very specific delivery times and are equipped with a computer system to manage their assignments efficiently.” and now they have a catalog of almost 1,000 products, the target is to reach around 2,500 references in the next 12 months.
According to Badia, one of the secrets of success is “indispensable” environmental and social commitment. “Can we make furniture without cutting down trees? Yes, we recover and recycle industrial wood waste,” he says. They also pay more for workshops where they recruit people at risk of exclusion. All this without making the product more expensive because “sustainability cannot be a luxury”. In the coming years, Hannun wants to be the number one player in Europe resolutely and sustainably when it comes to the home, from furniture to soaps, pajamas to sofas.