Bending Spoons, the tech giant from Milan that gained attention for acquiring brands like AOL and Vimeo, debuted on the Nasdaq this week, briefly surging to a market valuation exceeding $25 billion.

Though Bending Spoons’ shares have dipped slightly since, its market cap is still more than double its earlier private valuation of $11 billion, demonstrating strong investor interest in its strategy and assets, including well-known digital platforms like Meetup, Eventbrite, and WeTransfer.

The strategy employed by Bending Spoons is reminiscent of private equity, with the key distinction that it retains ownership of the brands it acquires. The goal is to enhance their financial performance — utilizing technology and AI, but also frequently employing price increases and layoffs that have sparked debate.

In an interview with TechCrunch, co-founder and chief product officer Matteo Danieli stated that part of the backlash was because products like Evernote had a devoted user base. However, he noted that customer loyalty has remained “remarkably stable” despite the various changes.

Over its 13-year journey, the user base of Bending Spoons has expanded significantly, particularly in the last few years. By March 2026, its portfolio catered to over 500 million monthly active users and over 9 million monthly paying customers, according to its filings. 

This contradicts the notion that Bending Spoons is acquiring failing companies, a narrative that entrepreneur Joe Hyrkin has contested since selling the digital publishing platform Issuu to the Italians in 2024. 

“‘Old internet brands’ is not the correct perspective,” Hyrkin stated on LinkedIn following the IPO. “They acquire products with genuine customer engagement, then integrate them into a unified system of product development, engineering, data analysis, monetization, AI, and operational efficiency.”  This approach appears effective: Bending Spoons reported $1.31 billion in revenue in 2025; however, its market cap suggests investors expect even bigger things.

How did Bending Spoons start?

The lesser-known origin story of Bending Spoons traces back to the remnants of Evertale, a Copenhagen startup that participated in Disrupt SF 2011’s Startup Alley and secured seed funding for its photo-sharing application, Wink.

Evertale quickly faltered, allowing investors to exit, but its founders along with a few employees continued collaborating, initially developing in-house applications. Eventually, the team executed its first acquisition, followed by numerous others, as CEO and co-founder Luca Ferrari disclosed in a rare appearance on the venture podcast 20VC before the firm went public.

In 2020, Bending Spoons deviated from its usual practice of not creating its own products when it developed and donated Immuni, Italy’s official COVID-19 contact-tracing app. Aside from that, it primarily focuses on a consistent strategy: identifying a successful product it believes it can enhance, and acquiring it from owners who have reached their limits.

This methodology was often at odds with traditional VC, and Bending Spoons remained self-funded for several years. However, it eventually secured equity financing multiple times, including in 2022, 2024, and 2025. Pre-IPO, it also attracted eminent backers including tech leaders Eric Schmidt, Mike Krieger, and Xavier Niel; along with celebrities like Andre Agassi, Bradley Cooper, Maluma, The Weeknd, and The Chainsmokers.

What happens after a Bending Spoons acquisition?

Post-acquisition, Bending Spoons is far from a passive proprietor, making alterations to the products’ user experience and features, as well as modifying the underlying technology; pricing strategies; and team organization, including personnel changes.

While this emphasis on efficiency and profitability overlaps with private equity tactics, Bending Spoons asserts a significant distinction: It “plans to retain indefinitely and has never sold an acquired asset.” It is cultivating a living portfolio, not presiding over a tech wasteland.

What companies has Bending Spoons acquired?

Between 2014 and 2021, Bending Spoons acquired several companies, including the AI-based photo enhancer Remini, though its most prominent acquisitions occurred more recently.

In 2022, it purchased Filmic, recognized for its widely used video and photo editing applications, and laid off the entire staff in December 2023.

Also in 2022, it announced and finalized the acquisition of Evernote, the note-taking app that had reportedly reached a $1 billion valuation before facing difficulties. Following the acquisition, layoffs ensued alongside reductions to Evernote’s free services.

Early 2024 was particularly bustling, with the acquisitions of Meetup, app creator Mosaic Group, and Hopin’s StreamYard all occurring within a short six-month span. 

In July 2024, it further acquired the publishing platform Issuu and file transfer service WeTransfer, subsequently implementing layoffs and changes to its free offering, including stricter limits. In December 2025, WeTransfer’s co-founder Nalden criticized Bending Spoons’ actions and mentioned plans to develop a new file transfer service.

In November 2024, Bending Spoons declared it would invest $233 million in an all-cash deal to take the video platform Brightcove private. Acquisitions continued in early 2025, with route planner Komoot and management software developer Harvest. 

Bending Spoons also revealed its ambition to acquire Vimeo in a $1.38 billion all-cash transaction and shortly thereafter, to purchase AOL from Yahoo for an undisclosed sum. (Note: Both AOL and Yahoo are former owners of TechCrunch, with Yahoo maintaining a minor stake.) 

In December 2025, it announced the acquisition of another notable brand: Eventbrite — for approximately $500 million, a steep decline from the company’s $1.76 billion valuation at its public offering in 2018.

The Vimeo acquisition closed in late 2025, followed by significant layoffs that impacted nearly the entire workforce, including the complete video team. The acquisitions of AOL, Eventbrite, and Tractive were also finalized in this timeframe. 

What’s next for Bending Spoons?

Four co-founders of Bending Spoons have sustained their leadership roles over the years: Matteo Danieli, Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, and Luca Querella. The IPO has rendered them billionaires, at least in terms of paper value, while allowing them to maintain control over the company with more than 80% of the voting rights.

Some of their decisions will affect employees. As per the company, it added “1,830 full-time equivalent staff members through the acquisitions of AOL, Eventbrite, and Vimeo,” but has already “separated” from many and will continue doing so. “Once the transformations of the three businesses are substantially finished later in 2026, we anticipate only a few hundred to remain.”

This reduction in workforce presumably won’t impact the number of “Spooners” — the term assigned by Bending Spoons to a select group of core team members who have undergone its rigorous hiring process. Currently, there are approximately 620, though this number hasn’t seen rapid growth: in 2025, only 286 hires were made from around 800,000 job applications.

While the core team count may not have increased significantly, productivity has surged. “Partly aided by advancements in AI, revenue per full-time equivalent Spooner increased from $1.12 million in 2023 to $2.57 million in 2025, reaching $0.97 million in Q1 2026,” the company reported. This helped it navigate the SaaS reckoning it now hopes to leverage.

“As many firms struggle to adapt, our capacity to enhance the earnings of an acquired company may become stronger,” Bending Spoons noted. Furthermore, “an atmosphere of greater uncertainty could provide opportunities for us to acquire businesses at more advantageous valuations.”

Despite viewing this as an opportune moment, Bending Spoons remains discerning in its acquisitions while casting a wide net. According to its own accounts, it identified over 2,500 acquisition prospects in 2025, conducted detailed analyses on around 200 of them, and completed six acquisitions. More are undoubtedly on the horizon — that’s the strategy.

“We have pinpointed over 1,000 digital businesses (both private and public) that could serve as appealing acquisition targets moving forward, amounting to nearly $400 billion in estimated total revenue for 2025,” Ferrari communicated in a letter on behalf of the Bending Spoons team.

The strategy remains unchanged, but the mention of take-privates highlights the company’s evolution from spending “$10,000 for our first acquisition” to now “pursuing acquisitions in the billions.” 

What follows may become even more vigorous. “As AI empowers us to achieve more with fewer personnel, the scalability of our acquisition and transformation model should enhance as well,” Ferrari anticipated.

This article was initially published in October 2025 and is periodically updated with new information.