en.Wedoany.com Reported - Bending Spoons, a software company based in Milan, Italy, successfully went public on the Nasdaq in the United States on July 1. The company opened at a public offering price of $29 per share, with its stock price rising 39.7% on the first day to close at $40.5. Its market capitalization increased from a listing benchmark of $18.4 billion to $25.7 billion, far exceeding the $14.5 billion enterprise valuation during its 2025 fundraising round. The IPO raised $1.68 billion in cash, making it one of the larger European technology IPOs this year.
Bending Spoons specializes in acquiring digital services that are experiencing slowing growth or operational difficulties, restoring their profitability through technological restructuring and operational optimization. The company's founder and CEO, Luca Ferrari, was born in 1985 and previously founded the digital diary application Evertale, which was unsuccessful. Drawing on the lessons from his first entrepreneurial failure, he founded Bending Spoons in 2013 with $40,000, shifting its business model from independent development to acquiring and revamping existing products. The company's name is derived from the classic line "There is no spoon" from the 1999 film *The Matrix*.
The company's core strategy is to acquire digital services with a stable user base but stagnant growth at low prices, restructure their technical architecture and operational systems, and hold them permanently. Acquired assets include Evernote, Vimeo, WeTransfer, and EventBright. The acquisition of Evernote in late 2022 is considered one of its most successful cases. After the acquisition, Bending Spoons rebuilt its software architecture, replacing the original bulky and outdated system, and implemented over 75 feature improvements in the first year, increasing application stability by 30% to over 50%. The company subsequently raised subscription prices. Before the acquisition, Evernote had an annual recurring revenue of $100 million and was consistently loss-making; after approximately one to two years of restructuring, it became a cash cow.
Through such "app revival" operations, Bending Spoons' overall sales grew from $387 million in 2023 to $1.31 billion in 2025. The company currently has over 500 million monthly active users and nearly 9 million paying users. However, its model has also sparked controversy. Critics argue that large-scale layoffs at acquired companies are Bending Spoons' primary "efficiency improvement tool," making it more akin to a "cost-cutting factory." Additionally, the acquisition-driven growth path may expose the company to higher debt risks during market downturns. The trend of generative artificial intelligence replacing traditional software is also seen as a potential threat. Bending Spoons argues that integrating AI features and automation technologies into the services it acquires can transform them into highly profitable cash cows.
