AOL is back in the public eye — in a manner of speaking. Its parent company, Bending Spoons, an Italian firm that has been discreetly acquiring cherished yet struggling internet brands for the last decade, debuted on Nasdaq today with an opening valuation exceeding $18 billion, followed by a 40% surge in stock price by the end of the trading day.

Based in Milan, Bending Spoons has implemented aspects of private equity strategies in its extensive acquisition endeavors — including Meetup, Eventbrite, Vimeo, WeTransfer, and numerous others. However, this isn’t a mere flip-and-sell operation: the company aims to enhance these brands with technology and retain ownership.

“Our goal is to position ourselves as an operator that takes cherished brands and significantly improves them,” stated Matteo Danieli, co-founder and chief product officer, in an interview with TechCrunch.

The methods employed have sparked debate over time, particularly concerning layoffs. Nevertheless, the company has also achieved revenue growth, especially with the integration of AI. “In the last year and a half, we have experienced an extraordinary acceleration in the speed at which we can introduce new features and deliver value to our users,” Danieli informed TechCrunch. 

This may resonate well as investors, both public and private, show greater interest in AI compared to aging SaaS companies. However, Bending Spoons presents a compelling argument: its F-1, akin to S-1 forms for foreign entities, features a section titled “AI before it was trendy” — nodding to its origins.

Prior to Bending Spoons, the co-founders developed Evertale, “a product designed to automatically document your life using what is now referred to as AI, though we termed it machine learning back then,” Danieli recounted. The startup did not succeed, but it provided valuable insights to the current leaders of Bending Spoons — Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Luca Querella, and Danieli. 

“It triggered a reflection on the disparity between the talent of entrepreneurs and their success, particularly from concept to reality. Luck plays a substantial role in that equation. We cultivated an obsession with creating a strategy that minimizes the influence of luck on growth and success,” Danieli remarked.

This approach was mentioned in its F-1, highlighting sentiments like, “Luck significantly impacts achieving product-market fit,” and “luck is negligible when striving for operational excellence.”

Such philosophies manifest in areas such as product pricing. “We aim to utilize our advanced data tracking, analytics systems, and experimentation frameworks that we have developed.” 

As Danieli noted, this sometimes leads the company to offer more features at no cost to foster word-of-mouth promotion. Yet, it has also resulted in price hikes that have drawn complaints from longtime subscribers. Despite this, he insists that customer retention has remained “remarkably stable.”

One acquisition faced particular scrutiny. “Evernote might be the first product we obtained that was genuinely beloved by its users, which led to strict evaluations.” This is the acquisition he takes the most pride in — especially its AI-focused v11 update. He mentioned that the company ultimately gained user approval through changes that garnered praise from many subscribers, including Evernote co-founder Phil Libin.

Over the years, Bending Spoons has gained increasing support. With a valuation of $11 billion in a private equity round preceding its IPO, it attracted both venture capitalists and notable figures from the tech and entertainment sectors. However, in its earlier years, VCs often struggled to grasp its approach. “We’ve experienced many responses like ‘you’re out of your mind’ throughout the years,” Danieli reminisced. 

This sentiment is also encapsulated in the company’s tagline, “Impossible. Maybe.”

Emphasizing talent acquisition was also a significant lesson learned from the Evertale experience, leading to a sharper focus on recruitment. Co-founder Ferrari “dedicated the majority of the first two to three years to shaping the culture and refining hiring processes. We believe we are now proficient at identifying talent, particularly when they are young and still building their track record.”

The figures seem to corroborate this. As per its SEC filing, “aided by advancements in AI, revenue per full-time equivalent Spooner rose from $1.12 million in 2023 to $2.57 million in 2025, and was $0.97 million in Q1 2026.”

This also sheds light on why Bending Spoons made the unconventional choice to bring the entire company to New York to celebrate its public listing. “It’s an additional avenue for us to secure the liquidity we need to propel our acquisition-focused strategy, but we also felt that for one day, it was appropriate to immerse ourselves in the moment and celebrate with all our colleagues,” Danieli stated. 

That celebration is just for one day, however. Following that, Bending Spoons will resume its strategy of acquiring companies — capitalizing on diminished SaaS valuations from which it has managed to avoid, according to Danieli. “From the standpoint of a buyer and as a company that expands through acquisitions, this represents a fantastic opportunity and timing for deploying capital.”