What is Bending Spoons? Everything to know about AOL’s acquirer

Bending Spoons’ 4 cofounders this week joined the billionaire ranks.

CEO Luca Ferrari’s involvement successful the Milan-based tech conglomerate is present reportedly worthy $1.4 billion, portion cofounders Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella, and Francesco Patarnello each clasp stakes worthy $1.3 billion, according to Forbes estimates based connected shareholder information published by the Italian Business Register.

The valuations travel connected the heels of Bending Spoons’ latest backing round: $270 cardinal from investors including T. Rowe Price and earlier backers Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, and Fidelity, positive a $440 cardinal secondary stock merchantability by existing shareholders. It’s unclear whether immoderate of the cofounders sold banal successful the secondary transaction. Bending Spoons has declined to remark connected its cofounders’ stakes.

Despite its catchy name, Bending Spoons has stayed remarkably nether the radar. The 12-year-old outfit typically makes headlines lone erstwhile it adds different recognizable marque to its increasing portfolio — astir precocious this past week, when it agreed to get AOL. for an undisclosed amount.

But Bending Spoons isn’t a accepted backstage equity steadfast oregon a axenic fiscal concern vehicle. Its absorption is connected acquiring underperforming but fashionable tech brands, past transforming them to service millions of users much efficiently. 

The institution tends to marque quality erstwhile it restructures these acquired companies, often done significant layoffs, oregon makes controversial changes to beloved products — oregon some successful the lawsuit of Evernote and WeTransfer.

Still, Bending Spoons itself remains mostly unknown, adjacent though its roster of products has served much than a cardinal people, with implicit 300 cardinal monthly progressive users and 10 cardinal paying customers. Here’s what you request to cognize astir the institution reshaping immoderate of the internet’s astir recognizable brands.

What is Bending Spoons?

Bending Spoons describes itself arsenic a institution that acquires and transforms integer businesses. Having grown to a headcount of 400 to 500 “Spooners,” its main absorption is connected making improvements to products and services that others person created.

However, it didn’t commencement that mode — the Bending Spoons’ founders had taken a stab astatine gathering their ain apps and products earlier yet shifting their focus.

The little-known backstory is that Bending Spoons was calved retired of the remains of Evertale, a Copenhagen-based startup that participated successful Disrupt SF 2011’s Startup Alley and raised seed funding for its photo sharing app, Wink. 

Evertale failed not agelong after, and investors got an out, but its founders and a mates of employees kept moving together, initially connected in-house apps. Soon enough, the squad made its archetypal acquisition, followed by galore others, CEO and cofounder Luca Ferrari told the 20VC podcast in a uncommon interview. 

In 2020, Bending Spoons made an objection erstwhile it created and donated Immuni, Italy’s authoritative COVID-19 interaction tracing app. But different than that, it has mostly been honing a formula: Bending Spoons identifies a fashionable merchandise it thinks it tin amended wrong and out, and buys it from owners who person reached their limits.

After the acquisition, Bending Spoons is thing but a passive owner, making changes to the products’ idiosyncratic acquisition and features but besides to the underlying tech and astir notably to outsiders, to monetization — including pricing — and squad enactment — including headcount.

While this absorption connected ratio and gross overlaps with backstage equity strategies, Bending Spoons claims a cardinal difference: it “aims to clasp forever, and has ne'er sold an acquired business.” It is gathering a unrecorded portfolio, not collecting net relics oregon presiding implicit a tech graveyard.

To beryllium clear, Bending Spoons’ acquisition targets truthful acold haven’t needfully been failing businesses — galore inactive had important idiosyncratic bases and revenue. But they’ve tended to beryllium stagnant, neglected, oregon had owners looking to exit. Let’s recap these cardinal deals, and besides what happened successful their aftermath.

What companies has Bending Spoons acquired?

While Bending Spoons acquired respective companies betwixt 2014 and 2021, including AI photograph enhancer Remini, its astir notable acquisitions happened much recently.

In 2022, it acquired Filmic, known for its fashionable video and photograph editing apps, and laid disconnected the full staff successful December 2023.

In a woody besides announced successful 2022 and finalized successful aboriginal 2023, Bending Spoons besides cquired Evernote, the note-taking app that had reportedly reached a $1 cardinal valuation earlier hitting trouble. Layoffs followed the acquisition, arsenic good arsenic cuts to Evernote’s escaped offering.

The archetypal fractional of pursuing year, 2024, was peculiarly active, with the acquisition of Meetup, app shaper Mosaic Group, and Hopin’s StreamYard successful the archetypal fractional of the year. 

In July 2024, it went connected to get the publishing level Issuu and the record transportation work WeTransfer, wherever it aboriginal cut staff and made changes to its escaped plan, introducing stricter limits. Later successful the year, Bending Spoons announced it would walk $233 million connected an all-cash take-private woody to get video level Brightcove. 

The acquisitions person continued apace successful 2025, with acquisitions that see the outdoors way planner Komoot and absorption bundle shaper Harvest. 

Bending Spoons besides announced its volition to acquire Vimeo successful a $1.38 cardinal all-cash deal, and adjacent much recently, to get AOL from Yahoo. (Disclosure: some AOL and Yahoo are erstwhile owners of TechCrunch, successful which Yahoo retains a tiny interest.) 

According to Bending Spoons, the acquisitions of AOL and Vimeo are expected to adjacent by the extremity of the year, taxable to modular closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including, successful the lawsuit of Vimeo, support by its stockholders. 

How overmuch is Bending Spoons worth?

As of the extremity of October 2025, Bending Spoons is 1 of Europe’s uncommon tech decacorns (companies valued astatine much than $10 billion). The startup past raised astatine a $2.8 cardinal valuation successful 2024, making its newest latest circular a important measurement up.

Though agelong bootstrapped, Bending Spoons had antecedently raised equity financing several times, including in September 2022 and early 2024. It besides has VIPs connected its headdress table, including tennis and amusement stars Andre Agassi and Bradley Cooper; tech manufacture bigs Eric Schmidt, Mike Krieger, and Xavier Niel; and performers The Weeknd, The Chainsmokers, and Maluma.

According to Bending Spoons, its caller backing volition enactment aboriginal acquisitions and concern successful its proprietary exertion and AI capabilities. This comes successful summation to the $2.8 cardinal successful indebtedness financing the institution disclosed arsenic it announced its volition to get AOL, indebtedness that volition money the AOL woody and aboriginal acquisitions.

What’s next?

Bending Spoons says it intends to proceed pursuing caller acquisitions that grow its portfolio of user and endeavor integer products, and it present has backing to spend much salient targets going forward.

AOL and Vimeo already transportation acold much sanction designation than earlier targets, adjacent if woody presumption stay undisclosed. The properties besides person immoderate reach. In announcing the AOL deal, Bending Spoons claimed that AOL remains 1 of the apical 10 most-used email providers successful the world, with 8 cardinal regular progressive users and 30 cardinal monthly progressive users. (Not agelong earlier acquiring AOL, Bending Spoons was besides rumored to beryllium eyeing app shaper Elysium and Typeform, the Barcelona-based SaaS institution known for its signifier instauration tools.)

Presumably to enactment its continued efforts to get companies, it besides has openings crossed assorted roles, with caller hires initially moving from its Milan office earlier gaining the enactment to enactment from offices successful London, Madrid, and Warsaw, oregon remotely.

In fact, contempt informing candidates that Bending Spoons is simply a “demanding environment,” the institution has said it already received much than 600,000 occupation applications successful 2025, a fig that volition apt ascent arsenic its caller deals make further attention.