This year, stock prices for conventional SaaS companies plummeted due to investor apprehensions that AI-developed software could one day supplant those enterprises. In spite of these worries, Bending Spoons, a firm that purchases and rejuvenates dormant yet recognizable tech brands, experienced a surge in its share prices on its market launch.

It finished at $40.50 on Wednesday, nearly 40% higher than its $29 IPO price. At that valuation, the 13-year-old company based in Milan, Italy, boasts a market cap of $25.7 billion, which is over twice its previous private valuation of $11 billion. The firm raised $1.68 billion during its offering.

Bending Spoons has expanded swiftly by acquiring older, once-renowned brands such as AOL, Eventbrite, Evernote, Meetup, and Vimeo, subsequently making them profitable, often through rigorous cost reductions, introducing new features, and increasing prices. Although the company’s strategy is akin to that of private equity, a critical distinction remains: Bending Spoons intends to retain these businesses rather than sell them.

The company’s disclosed financial statements indicate that it has successfully made its increasing portfolio of assets profitable. Bending Spoons reported revenues of $601 million for Q1, resulting in a net income of $27.4 million. This marks a marked improvement from the same time last year, when the company reported a $112 million net loss on revenues of $259 million, as per the SEC filing.

Bending Spoons, named after a scene from the sci-fi film “The Matrix,” generated the majority of its revenue from subscriptions, which constituted 84% of its business last year.

Prior to the offering, Baillie Gifford was the largest external shareholder of Bending Spoons, with smaller interests held by buyout fund Renaissance Partners, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price.

The IPO also brings a considerable financial boon to Bending Spoons’ five co-founders: Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella, and Tomasz Greber.

In addition to Bending Spoons, other investors employ the practice of acquiring, repairing, and retaining stagnant software companies, often labeled as “venture zombie” firms. These include Constellation Software, Curious, Tiny, saas.group, Arising Ventures, and Calm Capital.