Bending Spoons surges 40% on debut, bucking SaaS downturn
Bending Spoons, an Italian tech company that revives aging software brands, saw its shares close nearly 40% above its IPO price on its first trading day.
Earlier this year, shares of traditional SaaS companies fell amid investor fears that AI-powered software could eventually displace them. Bending Spoons, which acquires and revitalizes stagnant but well-known tech brands, had a strong market debut.
The stock closed at $40.50 on Wednesday, nearly 40% above the IPO price of $29. This gave the Milan-based company a market capitalization of $25.7 billion, more than double its last private valuation of $11 billion. The offering raised $1.68 billion.
Bending Spoons buys aging but once-popular brands such as AOL, Eventbrite, Evernote, Meetup, and Vimeo, and turns them profitable through aggressive cost-cutting, new features, and price increases. Unlike private equity, the company intends to hold these businesses long-term.
According to its SEC filing, the company reported $601 million in revenue for the first quarter, with net income of $27.4 million. This is a sharp turnaround from the same period last year, when it posted a net loss of $112 million on $259 million in revenue. Subscriptions accounted for 84% of revenue.
Before the IPO, Baillie Gifford was the largest outside shareholder, followed by Renaissance Partners, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price. The IPO also brought significant gains for the five co-founders: Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella, and Tomasz Greber.
Other investors pursuing a similar “buy, fix, and hold” strategy include Constellation Software, Curious, Tiny, SaaS.group, Arising Ventures, and Calm Capital.
