Bending Spoons IPO: $18B valuation, founder says success from minimizing luck
Italian tech company Bending Spoons, known for acquiring aging internet brands, went public on Nasdaq today at over $18 billion valuation. Co-founder Matteo Danieli explained that the company's strategy is designed to reduce the role of luck in growth and success.
Bending Spoons, the 13-year-old Italian company based in Milan, debuted on the Nasdaq today with an opening valuation exceeding $18 billion, and its stock popped 40% by market close. The company has been quietly acquiring beloved but struggling internet brands for the past decade, including Meetup, Eventbrite, Vimeo, and WeTransfer.
Unlike typical private equity flips, Bending Spoons aims to transform and hold onto these companies long-term. "We want to place ourselves as an operator that takes beloved brands and makes them much better," said co-founder and chief product officer Matteo Danieli. While its methods have generated controversy—especially layoffs—the company has driven revenue growth, increasingly with AI.
Danieli noted an incredible acceleration in the pace of shipping new features over the past year and a half. Before Bending Spoons, the founders built Evertale, a product that would automatically create a diary using what is now called AI. That startup failed, but taught a key lesson: "Luck is a very big component of that equation. So we developed an obsession for finding a strategy that would, as much as possible, reduce the role that luck plays in growth and success."
This philosophy influences pricing. Bending Spoons sometimes releases more features for free to drive word of mouth, but also raises prices, drawing complaints from long-term subscribers. However, retention remains "remarkably stable."
One notable acquisition was Evernote, which Danieli says was the first truly loved product they acquired. After a major overhaul, including an AI-heavy v11 update, even Evernote co-founder Phil Libin praised the changes.
Pre-IPO, Bending Spoons was valued at $11 billion in a private equity round, with a cap table including VCs and prominent figures from tech and entertainment. Early on, VCs struggled to understand the approach, often reacting with "you're crazy."
Talent and culture were also lessons from Evertale. Co-founder Luca Ferrari spent the first two to three years focusing on culture and hiring processes. The company's SEC filing shows revenue per full-time employee rose from $1.12 million in 2023 to $2.57 million in 2025.
To celebrate its listing, Bending Spoons brought the entire company to New York. "It's one more tool for us to access the liquidity we need to fuel our acquisitive strategy," said Danieli. After the IPO, the company plans to continue acquisitions, seeing opportunities in slashed SaaS valuations.
