This week, the four co-founders of Bending Spoons joined the ranks of billionaires.
CEO Luca Ferrari's stake in the Milan-based technology conglomerate is now reportedly worth $1.4 billion, while co-founders Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella and Francesco Patarnello each hold shares worth $1.3 billion, according to Forbes estimates based on shareholder data published by the Italian Business Register.
The valuation follows Bending Spoons' latest funding round, which saw $270 million from investors including T. Rowe Price and previous backers Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners and Fidelity, plus $440 million in secondary stake sales from existing shareholders. It is unclear whether any of the co-founders sold their shares in secondary transactions. Vending Spoons declined to comment on the co-founder's investment amount.
Despite its catchy name, Bending Spoons didn't deserve much attention. The 12-year-old company typically makes headlines only when it adds another big-name brand to its growing portfolio, most recently last week when it agreed to buy AOL. The amount is not disclosed.
But Bending Spoons is neither a traditional private equity firm nor a pure financial investment vehicle. Its focus is on acquiring underperforming but popular tech brands and transforming them to serve millions of users more efficiently.
Companies tend to make headlines when they restructure the companies they acquire, often by making significant job cuts, making controversial changes to beloved products, or, in the case of Evernote and WeTransfer, both.
Bending Spoons itself remains largely unknown, even though its product line serves more than 1 billion people, has more than 300 million monthly active users, and more than 10 million paying customers. Here's what you need to know about this company that's reinventing some of the internet's most famous brands.
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What is a bendable spoon?
Bending Spoons describes itself as a company that acquires and transforms digital businesses. The company, which has grown to 400-500 “Spooners” employees, is primarily focused on improving products and services created by others.
But it didn't start like that. Bending Spoons' founders tried their hand at building their own apps and products before ultimately shifting their focus.
A little-known backstory is that Bending Spoons was born from the ashes of Evertale, a Copenhagen-based startup that participated in Disrupt SF 2011's Startup Alley and raised seed funding for photo-sharing app Wink.
Evertale failed soon after and investors were absolved, but the founders and a few employees continued to collaborate, initially on an internal app. Soon the team made its first acquisition, and then many others, CEO and co-founder Luca Ferrari told the 20VC podcast in a rare interview.
In 2020, Bending Spoons made an exception when it created and donated Italy's official COVID-19 contact tracing app, Immuni. But other than that, the company has mainly honed its formula. Bending Spoons identifies popular products that can be improved inside and out and purchases them from owners who have reached their limits.
Since the acquisition, Bending Spoons has never been a passive owner, making changes not only to the user experience and functionality of the product, but also to the underlying technology. Monetization strategies, including pricing. Team organization, including number of employees.
While the focus on efficiency and profitability overlaps with private equity strategies, Bending Spoons argues there are important differences. This means that “we aim to hold the company forever and have never sold the acquired businesses.'' Rather than collecting internet relics or curating a tech graveyard, you're building a living portfolio.
To be clear, Bending Spoons' previous acquisition targets weren't necessarily failed businesses, many of which still had significant user bases and revenue. But they tended to be stagnant, ignored, or have owners looking to exit. Let's summarize these important trades and what happened after.
What companies has Bending Spoons acquired?
Bending Spoons acquired several companies between 2014 and 2021, including AI photo enhancement service Remini, but its most notable acquisition came recently.
In 2022, it acquired Filmic, a popular video and photo editing app, and laid off all staff in December 2023.
Also in a deal announced in 2022 and completed in early 2023, Vending Spoons also acquired notes app Evernote, which was reportedly valued at $1 billion before it ran into trouble. The acquisition was followed by layoffs and cuts to Evernote's free offering.
The first half of the following year, 2024, was particularly active, with the acquisitions of Meetup, app maker Mosaic Group, and Hopin's StreamYard in the first half of the year.
In July 2024, it acquired publishing platform Issuu and file transfer service WeTransfer, then cut staff, changed its free plan, and introduced stricter restrictions. Later that year, Bending Spoons announced it would spend $233 million in an all-cash take-private deal to acquire video platform Brightcove.
Acquisitions continued rapidly into 2025, with the acquisition of outdoor route planner Komoot and management software maker Harvest.
Bending Spoons also announced its intention to acquire Vimeo in an all-cash deal for $1.38 billion, and more recently announced its intention to acquire AOL from Yahoo. (Disclosure: AOL and Yahoo are both former owners of TechCrunch, with Yahoo retaining a small interest in it.)
According to Bending Spoons, the acquisition of AOL and Vimeo is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to standard closing conditions and regulatory approvals (including shareholder approval in the case of Vimeo).
How much is Bending Spoon worth?
As of the end of October 2025, Bending Spoons is one of Europe's rare high-tech decacorns (companies with an enterprise value of more than $10 billion). The startup last raised money in 2024 at a valuation of $2.8 billion, so this latest round is a significant step up.
Vending Spoons has long been bootstrapped, but has raised equity funding several times in the past, including in September 2022 and early 2024. Also on the cap table are VIPs such as tennis and entertainment stars Andre Agassi and Bradley Cooper. technology industry heavyweights Eric Schmidt, Mike Krieger, and Xavier Neal; and performers The Weeknd, The Chainsmokers, and Maluma.
Bending Spoons said the new funding will support future acquisitions and investments in proprietary technology and AI capabilities. This comes in addition to the $2.8 billion in debt financing the company disclosed when it announced its intention to acquire AOL, debt that will fund the AOL transaction and future acquisitions.
What's next?
Bending Spoons said it intends to continue pursuing new acquisitions to expand its portfolio of consumer and enterprise digital products and has secured funding to acquire more prominent targets in the future.
AOL and Vimeo already have much higher profile than their previous targets, even though the terms of the deal remain private. Properties also have some range. When announcing the partnership with AOL, Bending Spoons claimed that AOL remains among the top 10 most used email providers in the world, with 8 million daily active users and 30 million monthly active users. (Shortly before acquiring AOL, Bending Spoons was also rumored to be eyeing app maker Elysium and Typeform, a Barcelona-based SaaS company known for its form creation tools.)
Perhaps to support its continued acquisition efforts, the company is recruiting for a variety of roles, with new hires initially working at its headquarters in Milan and then having the option of working from offices in London, Madrid, Warsaw, or remotely.
Indeed, despite Bending Spoons warning candidates of a “tough environment”, the company says it has already received more than 600,000 job applications for 2025, and this number is likely to rise further as recent deals attract further attention.