Bending Spoons defies SaaS slump with $25.7B IPO

Earlier this year, shares of traditional Software as a Service (SaaS) companies tumbled amid investor fears that software built with artificial intelligence could eventually displace those businesses. Despite these concerns, Bending Spoons, a Milan, Italy-based technology company, successfully debuted on the public market on Wednesday. The company’s shares closed at $40.50, representing a surge of nearly 40% above its $29 Initial Public Offering (IPO) price. The offering raised $1.68 billion. At the closing price, the 13-year-old company reached a market capitalization of $25.7 billion, more than double its last private valuation of $11 billion.

The company operates by acquiring aging, but once popular, brands including AOL, Eventbrite, Evernote, Meetup, and Vimeo. Bending Spoons then works to turn these businesses profitable, typically through aggressive cost-cutting, launching new features, and raising prices. While the company’s approach is similar to private equity, there is one key difference: Bending Spoons has no plans to sell these businesses. This strategy of acquiring, fixing, and holding stalled software firms—often referred to as “venture zombie” companies—is also followed by competitors such as Constellation Software, Curious, Tiny, saas.group, Arising Ventures, and Calm Capital.

Disclosed financials from the company’s SEC filing show a significant turnaround, turning its growing portfolio of assets profitable. Bending Spoons generated the majority of its revenue from subscriptions, which accounted for 84% of its business last year.

A comparison of the company’s first-quarter performance highlights this financial turnaround:

• Q1 Revenue: $601 million, representing a significant increase from the $259 million reported in the same period last year.
• Q1 Net Income: $27.4 million, marking a sharp recovery from a net loss of $112 million in the same period last year.

Prior to the offering, the investment management firm Baillie Gifford was Bending Spoons’ largest outside shareholder. Other shareholders holding smaller stakes include Renaissance Partners, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price. The public debut also represents a significant windfall for the company’s five co-founders: Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella, and Tomasz Greber.

Why it matters

Bending Spoons’ successful debut challenges the narrative that artificial intelligence-driven software will inevitably displace traditional Software as a Service (SaaS) companies. The IPO demonstrates that a “buy-and-hold” strategy for legacy tech brands can still command massive market confidence, even as investor fears previously caused traditional SaaS shares to tumble.