Bending Spoons, the Italian company that owns apps such as Evernote and Meetup, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired file-transfer service WeTransfer. The companies did not disclose terms of the acquisition or the valuation.
WeTransfer CEO Alexander Vasilev said the platform's development over the past decade has resulted in 600,000 subscribers and 80 million monthly active users.
“Nurturing the creative community and amplifying their voices has been key to our success, and some of Bending Spoons' most successful products are tools that power creativity, so we are confident this milestone will help us accelerate our growth and create even more value across the creative industries,” Vassilev said in a statement.
The Dutch company expanded with $25 million from Highland Capital Partners Europe in 2015. In 2019, it raised €35 million in a Series B round from European growth equity firm HPE Growth, with significant backing from Highland Europe through a secondary sale. The startup also briefly considered going public, but backed off plans due to market volatility.
“WeTransfer is a highly respected name in the technology and creative sectors. We are passionate about becoming its new owners and feel a strong responsibility to help this brand and business thrive for years to come,” Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari said in a statement.
Bending Spoons said it will continue to set aside 30 percent of WeTransfer's ad space to put towards campaigns and editorial content.
Earlier this year, WeTransfer added a new feature that allows creators to sell digital files directly on the platform, with support for over 100 currencies.
What does this mean for WeTransfer?
Bending Spoons typically transforms the business models of the companies it acquires. For example, Evernote limited the number of notes in its free plan to 50 in November 2023. Currently, WeTransfer's pro plan costs $10 per month and includes 1TB of storage and the ability to send and receive up to 200GB of files. It also has an unlimited premium plan for $19 per month. This could change under Bending Spoons' leadership.
The Italy-based company also regularly lays off employees at companies it acquires: In February 2023, it laid off 129 employees from Evernote. In December 2023, Bending Spoons cut all employees at Filmic, a popular photo and video editing app that it acquired in 2022.
Bending Spoons did not immediately comment on plans for price changes or job cuts at WeTransfer.
Earlier this year, Bending Spoons raised $155 million in equity funding from Durable Capital Partners as well as existing investors including Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, NB Renaissance, NUO Capital and Startip (managed by Tambuli Investment Partners).