Bending Spoons, the Italian software group behind apps like Evernote and Vimeo, began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Wednesday under the ticker "BSP". The company priced its initial public offering above the marketed range, raising $1.68 billion. Both the company and existing shareholders, including Baillie Gifford, sold 57.97 million shares at $29 each, surpassing the previously marketed range of $26 to $28 per share.
The IPO valued Bending Spoons at approximately $18.4 billion. This figure exceeds the initial expectation of around $17.8 billion and is above the roughly $19 billion valuation aimed for at the low end of its earlier marketing range. The Milan-based firm operates with a model akin to a private-equity firm, acquiring established but underperforming digital products, streamlining costs, and scaling them. Its portfolio includes WeTransfer, Eventbrite, AOL, Brightcove, Meetup, and the route-planner Komoot, among others. Bending Spoons acquired Vimeo last November for about $1.38 billion.
The company has demonstrated rapid financial growth, with revenue increasing from $387 million in 2023 to $671 million in 2024, and then to $1.31 billion in 2025, marking a compound annual growth rate of approximately 84%. In the first quarter of 2026, the company recorded over $600 million in revenue. Bending Spoons currently serves over 500 million monthly active users and more than 9 million monthly paying customers across its portfolio. Its strategy involves identifying potential acquisition targets, with over 1,000 businesses already in its consideration pipeline. The successful float provides Bending Spoons with capital for future acquisitions, crucial for its roll-up strategy, and offers a liquidity event for early investors.
The debut of Bending Spoons on a U.S. exchange is being closely watched as a gauge for European technology companies opting to list in the U.S. rather than their home markets. Renaissance Capital's senior strategist, Matt Kennedy, noted that Bending Spoons has a unique profile compared to most software IPOs, operating as a hybrid between private equity and a tech company. The above-range pricing indicates strong institutional investor appetite during the book-building process, though the aftermarket performance will ultimately determine sustained investor confidence in the company's growth model.
Bending Spoons has completed over 50 acquisitions to date, spending $876 million on five businesses in 2024, $1.9 billion on six businesses in 2025, and $2 billion on two businesses so far in 2026. The company, founded in 2013 by Matteo Danieli, Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, and Luca Querella, has garnered a reputation for its aggressive cost-cutting measures and overhauling technology to increase profitability in its acquired ventures. Concerns have been raised by former employees and customers from some of the acquired businesses regarding these sweeping changes.
