MannyAI wants to become the right arm of brands and manufacturers for small series production.
The UK-based startup, focused on coordinating rapid production with better sustainability outcomes, has raised €1.26 million ($1.33 million) in a seed round. -seed, supplemented by a grant of 240,000 euros ($253,900) from Innovate UK (IUK),” the founders told Sourcing Journal exclusively.
Dreamcraft Ventures led the pre-seed round, with additional participation from Alante Capital, Plug and Play EMEA, Carbon13, Ventures Together and PDS Ventures.
MannyAI uses artificial intelligence systems to help brands reduce overproduction by leveraging a test-and-repeat model, made possible by matching them with factories willing to produce in smaller quantities: 200 to 500 units , in most cases. She plans to use the pre-seed funding to add technology and business development to her team, bringing it to seven full-time employees. It will also continue to develop other technology features for customers.
The startup, co-founded by Shruti Grover, CEO, and Simon Johnson, CTO, has dual functionality: it can be used by both brands and factories.
On the brand side, customers can import tech packs for the designs they want to produce. MannyAI’s systems read the tech pack, identify the components needed for the design, and assign a difficulty score based on the complexity level of the garment.
After the system makes preliminary assessments, the buyer sees a list of factories capable of manufacturing the requested quantity in a short period of time (often two weeks or less), along with the factory’s difficulty preferences , its ability to accept new orders and a unit price suggestion.
Johnson said the goal is to reduce overproduction by taking a test and repeat approach, that is, ordering about a tenth of the number of units a brand might order for a standard collection, then rearranging the orders based on the success of the style.
“Instead of producing in advance and having to predict what will be popular that season, MannyAI is instead a system where brands can meet demand by testing and repeating,” he explained.
Mills can then negotiate the brands’ suggested unit price based on the cost of the fabric needed, the difficulty of the design, and the labor required to fulfill the order.
Once a manufacturer accepts the job, MannyAI helps them establish a schedule to optimize production times, required labor and more. This schedule breaks down the process and times into understandable and easily achievable plans.
Because the system understands the intricacies of each design, down to the buttons, rivets and sewing patterns, it can identify overlaps between individual styles (often called tasks in the manufacturing world) even if they are part of orders distinct.
“Currently the way a factory works is they do all the work on an order together, because they want to ship it. (MannyAI) allows them to simultaneously view all work from different orders, regardless of the brand. The AI will find the similarities between individual styles and group them together while making sure everything looks good,” said Grover.
For example, if two separate brands each order slippers to complete their clothing collections, the factory can complete two slipper jobs consecutively, rather than changing the injection mold, focusing on another order, and then having to put the mold back on the machine. . Whether or not a factory has partner brands using MannyAI, it can use the system to manage and support its tasks.
When Grover and Johnson began working on MannyAI, they focused on the quantity of a product, also called made-to-order. But after running in-store pop-ups and running a small factory in central London for a short time, they quickly realized that this model would not be optimal, particularly for large brands and retailers.
“The quantity of a product creates too many inefficiencies, and what we really needed to do (was) think about how we can produce small batches and a quantity between 200 and 500. This can totally revolutionize things for big brands,” Grover said. .
Mathilde Lyet, director of Dreamcraft, said Grover and Johnson’s fervor for tackling the supply-demand gap piqued her interest from the moment she first heard about MannyAI.
“MannyAI’s digital AI platform addresses a critical problem I recognized in my previous role at Maersk, delivering a revolutionary solution that enables brands to adopt just-in-time production and optimize plant operations,” Lyet told Sourcing Journal.
As Grover and Johnson expand their team, they expect their ability to recruit clients to increase; they have set an ambitious goal for customer acquisition over the next few years.
“Our goal is to get 300 factories to adopt the system and have confidence that they can produce profitably in small batches,” Grover said, noting that the company will seek to achieve this goal by August 2026 .
She further noted that working in tandem with brands might be the easiest way to achieve this goal. By Grover’s estimate, if MannyAI could secure deals with six to seven brands willing to involve their top manufacturers, the company would quickly reach its goal. Today, two multi-brand retailers, ASOS and Zalando, and three factories (two in the UK and one in France) use MannyAI’s technology.
“The truth is that brands hold a lot of cards… so if they are the ones who start introducing this technology into their factories, then it will be easy to achieve our goals,” Grover told Sourcing Journal. “It’s time for brands to start strategizing about their excess production and how they’re going to address inventory issues.”
Zalando, one of MannyAI’s first customers, has already started the work of evaluating its suppliers. Matthias Hurler, director of private label sourcing at the European retailer, said the technology solution could help Zalando meet its needs more easily.
“As Zalando consolidates its supplier network, we are exploring AI-based solutions that can support real-time production planning across all factories. MannyAI’s technology offers promising capabilities to improve agility, streamline resource utilization and help suppliers better align production with demand, supporting both operational efficiency and sustainable practices,” said Hurler .
While small batches have long piqued the interest of some brands, MannyAI could also help brands develop their strategies for a new trend: nearshoring. Grover and Johnson said they recommend brands only partner with manufacturers that can move goods by road within a week. For those in the UK, these suppliers could be as far away as Morocco.
For many businesses, offshoring can be costly, primarily due to increased labor costs. Grover said that while costs may increase by 25 to 30 percent for individual units, company sales offset the additional cost of manufacturing the products.
“Imagine a brand buys 3,000 units and now scales up to an initial 200 units followed by repeats. Delivery time decreases. They are increasing in price, but keep in mind that this is not offset by other discounts. There is no 50 percent off sale; these are not unsold or break-even sales. Net profit increases in this scenario,” she explained.
And investors, notably Dreamcraft, are intrigued by this proposition.
“With increasing regulatory pressures and the trend toward nearshoring, MannyAI is uniquely positioned to help brands reduce waste, increase profitability, and adapt to the demands of a rapidly evolving industry,” he said. Lyet said.
Moving forward, Grover and Simon see partnerships with U.S. brands, as well as domestic factories or manufacturers in Mexico and South America, as a major opportunity for growth, especially as the Trump administration plays with tariffs next year.
Grover’s belief that brands can remain profitable while offshoring, coupled with a trend toward helping manufacturers and brands reduce their carbon footprint, means that MannyAI will continue to be a solution heavily focused on offshoring.
“This technology is a no-brainer for nearshoring,” she said. “We’re not marketing this at all as something that brands selling into the UK (and EU) can use to consolidate their Chinese suppliers, because ultimately the carbon emissions savings – this which we seek by reducing overproduction – will be canceled by air transport.