Bending Spoons, a Milan-based company known for acquiring and revitalizing struggling but well-known tech firms, successfully launched its initial public offering on the Nasdaq under the symbol "BSP." The offering, which priced 58 million shares at $29 apiece, raised $1.68 billion. The company's stock surged nearly 40% on its first trading day, reaching $40.50 and giving it a market capitalization of $25.7 billion, more than double its last private valuation of $11 billion. This debut defied a general slump in SaaS company shares.
Bending Spoons' business model involves acquiring aging digital products like AOL, Eventbrite, Evernote, Meetup, and Vimeo, then turning them profitable through aggressive cost-cutting, launching new features, and raising prices. While similar to private equity, the company intends to hold onto these businesses rather than sell them. Its disclosed financials show significant improvement, reporting $601 million in revenue for Q1 2026, generating $27.4 million in net income, a major turnaround from a $112 million net loss on $259 million in revenue in the same period last year. The company reported over 500 million monthly active users and 9 million monthly paying customers as of March.
The IPO proceeds, with Bending Spoons receiving $1 billion and the rest going to existing shareholders, are earmarked for future acquisitions. The company has acquired more than 50 companies since its founding in 2013 and has a debt of just under $4.4 billion. Its revenue primarily comes from subscriptions, accounting for 84% last year. The company's five co-founders, Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella, and Tomasz Greber, saw a significant windfall from the IPO. Before the offering, Baillie Gifford was the largest outside shareholder, with other investors including Renaissance Partners, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price.
