What Bending Spoons does

Bending Spoons is a Milan-based technology company founded in 2013 by Luca Ferrari and three co-founders with $40,000 in initial capital. Its core business is acquiring iconic but stagnating digital products and operating them under long-term ownership rather than reselling them, executing 50+ acquisitions including Evernote (Jan 2023), Meetup (Jan 2024), StreamYard (Apr 2024), WeTransfer (Jul 2024), Brightcove (Feb 2025), Komoot (Mar 2025), Vimeo (Nov 2025), AOL (Jan 2026), Eventbrite (Mar 2026), and Tractive (May 2026). The portfolio spans consumer apps, enterprise SaaS, marketplaces, advertising, and hardware, collectively serving 1+ billion registered users, 400+ million monthly active users, and 7+ million monthly paying customers including most Fortune 500 enterprises.

Underpinning the portfolio is a proprietary AI/ML technology stack (Minerva for user LTV prediction, Juno for multi-channel payment management, Xina for marketing attribution, Galf for access control, Matrix for UX pattern propagation, and Pico for data ingestion), plus 100+ AI models tested and productized across products such as Remini, Evernote v11 (with OpenAI), Vimeo, and Brightcove. The company operates small, talent-dense product teams of 5-30 people, deploys AI features across acquisitions, and ranks #1 Best Workplace in Italy (2025, 2023, 2020, 2019) and #3 in Europe (2025).

Bending Spoons generated $1.31 billion in FY2025 revenue and $601 million in Q1 2026 (up ~132% YoY), with $27.5 million in net income. Revenue is diversified across subscription (Vimeo, Evernote, Brightcove, Komoot, Meetup), transaction fees (Eventbrite), freemium and advertising (Remini, Meetup, WeTransfer, Robokiller, Weather Live, AOL), enterprise services (Brightcove), and hardware plus subscription (Tractive). Distribution is split between self-serve mobile app stores for consumers and direct enterprise sales for B2B products. Following $710 million of equity at an $11 billion valuation in October 2025 and a $2.8 billion debt package, Bending Spoons filed an F-1 in June 2026 and launched its U.S. IPO on Nasdaq under ticker BSP, with co-founders retaining over 82% voting power via dual-class shares.

Name

Bending Spoons

Legal name

Bending Spoons Operations S.p.A.

Website

https://bendingspoons.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Ipo

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Bending Spoons is a Milan-based technology company that acquires and operates iconic digital products for the long term, owning 50+ brands including Evernote, Vimeo, AOL, Eventbrite, and WeTransfer. It serves 400+ million monthly active users and 7+ million paying customers using a shared proprietary AI/ML stack, and recently IPO'd on Nasdaq under ticker BSP.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Milan

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Subscription revenue from acquired SaaS products: Recurring subscription revenue from products such as Vimeo, Evernote, Brightcove, StreamYard, Komoot, and Meetup. Primary revenue driver across the portfolio.
2. Hardware sales (Tractive GPS devices): Hardware revenue from Tractive GPS pet tracking devices, with associated recurring service subscriptions.
3. Transaction and ticketing fees (Eventbrite): Marketplace take rate and ticketing fees from Eventbrite, generating transaction-based revenue from event organizers.
4. Freemium and advertising revenue (consumer apps): Freemium conversion and in-app advertising revenue from consumer products such as Remini, Meetup, WeTransfer, Robokiller, and Weather Live.
5. Advertising and marketplace revenue (AOL): Advertising, programmatic, and marketplace revenue from AOL properties acquired in January 2026.
6. Enterprise professional services (Brightcove): Professional services, video platform licensing, and managed services for enterprise customers (broadcasters, publishers, sports organisations).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Bending Spoons acquires iconic but stagnating digital products and operates them for the long term, applying AI-driven improvements, proprietary infrastructure, and operational excellence. The company owns and operates more than 50 consumer and enterprise software brands (including Vimeo, Evernote, Remini, WeTransfer, Eventbrite, Meetup, Komoot, AOL, StreamYard, Brightcove, and Tractive), serving over 1 billion registered users and 7+ million paying customers.

Product overview

Bending Spoons operates a multi-brand digital products platform rather than a single unified product. The company has acquired and operates more than 50 digital products since 2013 (over 50+ apps including Evernote, Vimeo, Remini, WeTransfer, Eventbrite, Meetup, Komoot, AOL, StreamYard, Brightcove, Tractive, Splice, Issuu, Loomly, and others such as iTranslate, Alight Motion, and Fonts), serving more than a billion people with around 400+ million monthly active users and 7+ million monthly paying customers. The architecture combines individually managed consumer brands (e.g., Vimeo as the video platform, Eventbrite as the ticketing platform, Komoot for outdoor routing, Tractive for pet tracking hardware/software) with a shared layer of proprietary AI/ML and operational technologies — Minerva (LTV predictions), Juno (payment management), Xina (marketing attribution), Galf (access control), Matrix (UX patterns), and Pico (data ingestion) — that Bending Spoons uses to transform and improve each product over time under a long-term hold strategy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Vimeo: Video hosting, live streaming, and video software platform acquired in November 2025.
• Evernote
• Remini
• WeTransfer
• Eventbrite
• Meetup
• Komoot
• AOL
• StreamYard
• Brightcove
• Tractive

Products and services

• Vimeo Video hosting, sharing, and live streaming platform serving creators, professionals, and enterprises with subscription plans and AI-enabled features for captions, dubbing, and translation.
• Evernote Note-taking and productivity application for individuals and teams, offering cross-device sync, AI-powered search, transcription, and summarization features.
• Remini AI-powered photo and video enhancement app for consumers, offering photo restoration, enhancement, and AI-generated images from selfies using a freemium subscription model.
• WeTransfer File-sharing and transfer service for individuals and creative professionals, offering large file transfer, expired-transfer recovery, and reduced upload times via freemium subscription plans.
• Eventbrite Global self-service ticketing marketplace for live events, connecting event organizers and attendees; generates revenue from transaction/ticketing fees and is being enhanced with AI-powered event creation tools.
• Meetup Community-based social event platform for individuals and local groups, offering event discovery, group organization tools, and a free organizer plan plus paid features.
• Komoot Outdoor route planning and navigation platform for hikers, cyclists, and adventurers, with subscription plans for region packs and offline maps.
• AOL Internet portal and web services brand offering email, content, and advertising-supported products to consumers; generates advertising, programmatic, and marketplace revenue.
• StreamYard Browser-based live streaming and broadcasting studio for content creators, businesses, and educators, with subscription plans including 4K local recordings and AI editing capabilities.
• Brightcove Enterprise video technology platform for broadcasters, publishers, and sports organisations, offering live streaming at scale, server-side ad insertion, and AI-enabled video tools.
• Tractive GPS-based pet location tracking and health monitoring product combining wearable GPS hardware with subscription-based software services for pet owners.
• Evernote v11 with AI Assistant, Semantic Search, and AI Meeting Notes Major release of Evernote adding AI Assistant (developed with OpenAI), Semantic Search for natural language queries, and AI Meeting Notes for transcription and summarization.
• Brightcove Prism Platform Interface Redesigned Brightcove platform interface, the biggest product experience update in years, developed with feedback from over 100 enterprise customers; future additions include live captions and contextual advertising.

Quantifiable outcome

• $601M Q1 2026 revenue with $27.5M net income (profitable)
• +5 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability14 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Apollo Global ManagementflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Counterparty in AOL acquisition deal; Apollo sold AOL and its assets to Bending Spoons in a transaction valued at approximately $1.7 billion completed in January 2026.
• YahooflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Parent company of AOL at the time of the acquisition; counterparty to Bending Spoons in the AOL acquisition transaction.
• OpenAIcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology partner providing AI capabilities that power Evernote's AI Assistant, Semantic Search, and AI Meeting Notes features in Evernote v11.
• AnthropiccoreTechnology or IntegrationAI infrastructure partner; Bending Spoons is named as an Anthropic customer using Claude to power AI features across its portfolio of products.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Constellation Software: Toronto-listed acquirer and operator of vertical-market software businesses for the long term, with a portfolio of 6,000+ properties. Closest analog to Bending Spoons' 'acquire and operate forever' model in publicly traded form, applying shared operational excellence to a much broader portfolio.
• IAC Inc. US-listed internet holding company that builds and acquires consumer brands across multiple verticals (Dotdash Meredith, Care.com, Angi, etc.). Operates acquired businesses with strategic capital allocation, paralleling Bending Spoons' approach to consumer/internet brand stewardship.

Broad incumbents

• Thoma Bravo: Largest US software-focused private equity firm with $130B+ AUM. Acquires mature software companies, applies operational improvements, and exits via sale or IPO. Same acquire-and-improve playbook as Bending Spoons but on a much larger PE scale with shorter hold periods.
• Roper Technologies: US-listed acquirer of vertical software businesses, applying shared operational and capital-allocation discipline to a large portfolio. Same acquire-and-operate-forever philosophy as Bending Spoons, but focused on enterprise/industrial software rather than consumer products.
• Francisco Partners: Tech-focused PE firm specializing in software and technology-enabled services. Acquires and operates software businesses at scale, comparable to Bending Spoons in sector focus though with traditional PE fund horizons.
• Permira: Global PE firm with significant software and digital products investment (including Genesys, Carlyle Group's Engel & Völkers, Squarespace). Overlap with Bending Spoons in digital-product M&A, though with traditional fund structures and shorter hold periods.
• KKR: Global alternative asset manager with active technology buyout franchise (BMC, Epicor, etc.) and consumer-internet exposure. Comparable as a deep-pocketed acquirer of technology and consumer internet assets, though with broader sector exposure.
• Vista Equity Partners: US software-focused PE firm with $100B+ AUM that acquires enterprise software companies and applies operational improvements. Comparable as a large-scale acquirer of software/digital products, though with traditional PE fund structures.
• Prosus Naspers: Global consumer internet group that holds and operates minority and majority stakes in consumer internet businesses (Tencent historically, OLX, eMAG, etc.). Comparable as a long-term holder of consumer digital assets across geographies.

Emerging players

• Haveli Investments: Recently launched technology-focused investment firm founded by Brian Sheth that has executed large take-privates of consumer software/internet businesses (e.g., Squarespace). Comparable emerging large-scale tech holding company with similar long-term orientation.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/bendingspoons
• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=uLSXhmRHpFU
• Facebookfacebook.com/bendingspoons
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bendingspoons
• Instagraminstagram.com/bendingspoons

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds14 records

Investors31 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A16 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bending Spoons