What is Bending Spoons? The Under-the-Radar Owner of AOL and Vimeo Goes Public

Bending Spoons, the Milan-based technology conglomerate recognized for its acquisitions such as AOL and Vimeo, made its public debut on Nasdaq this week, briefly surpassing a market capitalization of $25 billion.

Although Bending Spoons’ stock has seen a slight decline since then, its market cap is still twice its previous private valuation of $11 billion, indicating robust investor confidence in its strategy and portfolio, which includes prominent digital brands like Meetup, Eventbrite, and WeTransfer.

Bending Spoons employs a strategy similar to private equity, with a key difference in its long-term commitment to the brands it acquires. The focus is on boosting their financial performance through technology and AI, at times leading to price hikes and layoffs, which have stirred some controversy.

In a discussion with TechCrunch, co-founder and chief product officer Matteo Danieli acknowledged that some critiques are rooted in products like Evernote, which boasts a dedicated user community. However, he stated that customer retention has remained “remarkably stable” despite these changes.

Over its 13-year history, Bending Spoons has considerably grown its user base, especially in recent years. By March 2026, its portfolio was said to serve over 500 million monthly active users and more than 9 million monthly paying customers, according to its filings.

This contradicts the perspective that Bending Spoons targets failing companies, a view that entrepreneur Joe Hyrkin has refuted since selling his digital publishing platform Issuu to the company in 2024.

“Describing them as ‘old internet brands’ distorts the truth,” Hyrkin commented on LinkedIn after the IPO. “They acquire products with significant user engagement and integrate them into a solid framework of product management, engineering, data analytics, monetization, AI, and operational discipline.” This strategy appears effective, with Bending Spoons reporting $1.31 billion in revenue for 2025, and its market capitalization suggests investors see even greater potential ahead.

How did Bending Spoons start?

The lesser-known origin tale of Bending Spoons begins with Evertale, a Copenhagen-based startup that took part in Startup Alley at Disrupt SF 2011 and raised seed funding for its photo-sharing app, Wink.

Evertale eventually failed, allowing investors to exit. Nevertheless, its founders and a handful of employees continued collaborating to develop in-house apps. Soon, the team executed its first acquisition, followed by many others, as CEO and co-founder Luca Ferrari recounted in a rare interview on the venture podcast 20VC before the company went public.

In 2020, Bending Spoons deviated from its usual model of avoiding its own product development by creating and donating Immuni, Italy’s official COVID-19 contact-tracing app. Beyond this, the company has concentrated on honing its approach: identifying popular products it believes it can enhance, then purchasing them from owners facing restrictions.

This strategy diverged from conventional venture capital methods, with Bending Spoons remaining bootstrapped for several years. Eventually, it participated in multiple rounds of equity financing in 2022, 2024, and 2025. Prior to its IPO, it gained backing from notable figures such as tech titans 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?

After an acquisition, Bending Spoons is active in transforming the products’ user experiences, features, underlying technologies, monetization strategies, including pricing, and organizational structures, including staff levels.

While this focus on efficiency and revenue aligns with private equity models, Bending Spoons emphasizes a crucial difference: it “intends to hold its acquisitions indefinitely and has never divested an acquired business.” The company aims to cultivate a dynamic portfolio rather than manage a tech graveyard.

What companies has Bending Spoons acquired?

From 2014 to 2021, Bending Spoons acquired several companies, including the AI-driven photo enhancer Remini, but its most notable acquisitions took place more recently.

In 2022, it acquired Filmic, recognized for its popular editing apps, ultimately laying off the entire staff in December 2023.

In another significant transaction announced in 2022 and completed in early 2023, Bending Spoons acquired Evernote, the note-taking app that previously achieved a $1 billion valuation before encountering difficulties. Post-acquisition, layoffs were executed, along with reductions in Evernote’s free offerings.

The first half of 2024 saw numerous acquisitions, with Bending Spoons obtaining Meetup, app creator Mosaic Group, and Hopin’s StreamYard within six months.

In July 2024, it secured the publishing platform Issuu and the file transfer service WeTransfer, which resulted in staff cuts and adjustments to its free plans, including stricter limits. In December 2025, WeTransfer co-founder Nalden publicly criticized Bending Spoons’ decisions and revealed plans to create a new file transfer service.

In November 2024, Bending Spoons announced intentions to invest $233 million in an all-cash take-private deal to acquire the video platform Brightcove. Acquisitions continued into early 2025, adding route planner Komoot and management software producer Harvest.

The company also revealed plans to acquire Vimeo in a $1.38 billion all-cash deal, shortly after announcing intentions to buy AOL from Yahoo for an undisclosed amount. (Note: Both AOL and Yahoo previously owned TechCrunch, and Yahoo still retains a minor stake.)

In December 2025, Bending Spoons announced its next acquisition: Eventbrite, for around $500 million, considerably less than the company’s $1.76 billion valuation at IPO in 2018.

The Vimeo acquisition closed in the latter part of 2025 and was followed by significant layoffs impacting most of the workforce, including the entire video team. Acquisitions of AOL, Eventbrite, and Tractive were also finalized that year.

What’s next for Bending Spoons?

Bending Spoons has consistently been led by four co-founders: Matteo Danieli, Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, and Luca Querella. The IPO has made them billionaires, at least on paper, while allowing them to retain control of the company, owning over 80% of voting rights.

Their decisions will inevitably influence employees. The company claims it “added 1,830 full-time equivalent team members through the acquisitions of AOL, Eventbrite, and Vimeo” but has already “parted ways” with many, with intentions to continue this trend. “Once we complete the transformations of the three businesses in late 2026, we anticipate retaining only a few hundred.”

This reduction in headcount likely won’t affect the number of “Spooners” — a title reserved for core team members who’ve undergone a rigorous hiring process. Currently, there are about 620 Spooners, a figure that has not grown rapidly: in 2025, only 286 were hired from a pool of 800,000 applicants.

While the core team size has remained fairly constant, productivity has soared. “Partially driven by advancements in AI, revenue per full-time equivalent Spooner jumped from $1.12 million in 2023 to $2.57 million in 2025, with early 2026 reflecting revenue of $0.97 million per Spooner,” the company noted. This trend has positioned Bending Spoons to adeptly navigate ongoing SaaS challenges, and it aims to further leverage its status.

“As many businesses face difficulties in adaptation, our ability to enhance the earnings of acquired enterprises may strengthen,” Bending Spoons remarked. Additionally, “in an environment fraught with uncertainties, we may find chances to acquire companies at more favorable valuations.”

While considering current circumstances a strategic advantage, Bending Spoons has remained selective in its acquisitions, all while keeping a broad perspective. According to its own records, it identified over 2,500 acquisition opportunities in 2025, conducted deep evaluations of around 200 of them, and completed six acquisitions. More deals are anticipated — encapsulating the essence of its strategy.

“We’ve identified more than 1,000 digital businesses (both private and public) that could present appealing acquisition opportunities going forward, collectively representing approximately $400 billion in projected revenue for 2025,” Ferrari expressed in a letter on behalf of the Bending Spoons team.

The acquisition strategy remains unwavering, though the prospect of take-private deals illustrates the evolution from “spending $10,000 on our first acquisition” to now pursuing transactions in the billions.

What lies ahead may be even more intense. “As AI empowers us to achieve more with fewer resources, the scalability of our acquisition and transformation model is poised to improve,” Ferrari predicts.

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