Bending Spoons

For the act of spoon bending, see spoon bending.

Bending Spoons S.p.A.
Company typePrivate
Founded2013 (2013) in Copenhagen, Denmark[1]
Founders
  • Luca Ferrari
  • Francesco Patarnello
  • Matteo Danieli
  • Luca Querella
  • Tomasz Greber
HeadquartersMilan, Italy
Products
Number of employees
1,000 (2025)[2]
Subsidiaries
Websitebendingspoons.com

Bending Spoons S.p.A. is an Italian technology conglomerate founded in 2013. Based in Milan, the company typically acquires products with existing product‑market fit[3] and manages them for long-term ownership.[4][5]

History

Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, and Matteo Danieli, worked on an unsuccessful venture-funded product startup called Evertale. They were left with $40,000, which became the seed capital for Bending Spoons in June 2013, also founded in Copenhagen.[6][7][8] The company name was inspired by a scene from the science fiction movie The Matrix.[6][9] The company moved to Milan in 2014.[8]

Immuni

On 17 April 2020, the Italian government released a statement on its website announcing that Bending Spoons had been selected to design and develop Italy's official COVID-19 contact tracing app, Immuni.[10][11] The app was released on 1 June 2020.[12] It was initially released in four regions, then countrywide.[13]

The app did not receive significant adoption and successfully tracked less than 1% of the total confirmed positive cases reported during the period it was active.[14] The most commonly cited reasons for not using the app were the lack of perceived effectiveness and major technical issues.[15]

Immuni was decommissioned on December 31, 2022.[16]

Acquisitions

In September 2022, Bending Spoons acquired FiLMiC[17] and converted its video-recording app FiLMiC Pro to a subscription revenue model.[18] In December 2023, the original FiLMiC team were laid off, and development of FiLMiC Pro was continued in-house by Bending Spoons.[19]

In November 2022, Bending Spoons agreed to acquire Evernote.[20] The acquisition was concluded in January 2023.[21] In July 2023, Evernote laid off all of its existing staff and announced it would relocate to Europe to be closer to Bending Spoons' headquarters.[22]

Bending Spoons made a series of acquisitions in 2024. In January, it acquired the assets of New York City-based mobile app developer Mosaic Group from IAC Inc.; subsequently, Mosaic's entire workforce of 330 staff members was laid off, as they were not part of the acquisition.[23][24] Also that month, Bending Spoons acquired Meetup, a social media platform for organizing in-person and virtual activities.[25][26] In April, the company announced that it would acquire Hopin, owner of the popular live streaming studio StreamYard.[27] Later in July, the company announced it had acquired digital publishing platform Issuu.[28] Also in July, the company agreed to acquire the Dutch file transfer service WeTransfer, then announced in September they were laying off 75% of the company's workforce.[29][30] In November, the company agreed to acquire video platform company Brightcove for $233 million.[31] In March, Brightcove laid off 33% of employees.[32]

In 2025, Bending Spoons acquired several companies, including Komoot in March for near €300 million, soon after which it laid off three quarters of the staff.[33][34] The company also acquired professional services software provider Harvest in June, California-based MileIQ for $233 million in July,[35] video sharing platform Vimeo in September for $1.38 billion, and AOL in October for $1.5 billion.[36][37] In December, the acquisition of Eventbrite for approximately $500 million was announced, which is planned to close in the first half of 2026.[38] The following month, Vimeo laid off most of their staff, including the entire video team.[39] AOL later laid off more than 100 employees in February 2026.[40]

See also

References

  1. ^ Zargani, Luisa (9 December 2021). "Renzo Rosso's Red Circle Investments Takes Stake in Bending Spoons". Women's Wear Daily.
  2. ^ Prescott, Katie (30 November 2025). "Luca Ferrari: Europe needs to smash the language barrier". The Times. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  3. ^ "Hundreds of millions in revenue and three acquisitions in 2024 — what's behind Bending Spoons' success?". Sifted. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  4. ^ Mehta, Ivan (8 September 2024). "Bending Spoons plans to lay off 75% of WeTransfer staff after acquisition". TechCrunch. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  5. ^ Orosz, Gergely (23 July 2025). "Twisting the rules of building software: Bending Spoons (the team behind Evernote)". newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  6. ^ a b Novarini, Matteo (17 February 2025). "Matrix, la prima startup andata male e l'unicorno italiano: a tu per tu con Luca Ferrari, ad di Bending Spoons". Forbes Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 9 October 2025.
  7. ^ O'Brien, Amy (11 April 2024). "Hundreds of millions in revenue and three acquisitions in 2024 — what's behind Bending Spoons' success?". Sifted. Retrieved 9 October 2025.
  8. ^ a b Rocco, Gabriella (27 January 2024). "La startup milanese Bending Spoons chiude un round da 200 milioni e compra un'azienda americana". la Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 9 October 2025.
  9. ^ Pollina, Elvira (21 October 2024). "Italian tech company Bending Spoons has eye on US for potential IPO". Reuters. Retrieved 9 October 2025.
  10. ^ Pollina, Elvira (1 April 2020). "Italy tests contact-tracing app to speed lockdown exit". Reuters. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  11. ^ Ministry of Health. "Contact tracing: Arcuri firma ordinanza per app italiana". www.salute.gov.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  12. ^ Italian Minister for Technological Innovation (3 June 2020). "IMMUNI APP available for downloading on the APPLE and GOOGLE stores". innovazione.gov.it. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  13. ^ Horowitz, Jason; Satariano, Adam (1 June 2020). "Europe Rolls Out Contact Tracing Apps, With Hope and Trepidation". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  14. ^ Ussai, Silvia; Pistis, Marco; Missoni, Eduardo; Formenti, Beatrice; Armocida, Benedetta; Pedrazzi, Tatiana; Castelli, Francesco; Monasta, Lorenzo; Lauria, Baldassare; Mariani, Ilaria (20 June 2022). ""Immuni" and the National Health System: Lessons Learnt from the COVID-19 Digital Contact Tracing in Italy". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 19 (12): 7529. doi:10.3390/ijerph19127529. ISSN 1661-7827. PMC 9223529. PMID 35742778.
  15. ^ Isonne, Claudia; De Blasiis, Maria Roberta; Turatto, Federica; Mazzalai, Elena; Marzuillo, Carolina; De Vito, Corrado; Villari, Paolo; Baccolini, Valentina (10 June 2022). "What Went Wrong with the IMMUNI Contact-Tracing App in Italy? A Cross-Sectional Survey on the Attitudes and Experiences among Healthcare University Students". Life. 12 (6): 871. Bibcode:2022Life...12..871I. doi:10.3390/life12060871. ISSN 2075-1729. PMC 9225335. PMID 35743902.
  16. ^ Salute, Ministero della. "Dismissione Piattaforma contact tracing digitale e APP IMMUNI". www.salute.gov.it (in Italian). Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  17. ^ "FiLMiC & Bending Spoons Join Forces. Changes to Subscription Model". Newsshooter. 4 September 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  18. ^ Voss, Olaf von (8 September 2022). "FiLMiC Pro Acquired by Bending Spoons – New Subscription Model". CineD. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  19. ^ Davis, Wes (3 December 2023). "Bending Spoons confirmed it laid off all 22 of Filmic's original staff". The Verge. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  20. ^ Roth, Emma (16 November 2022). "Evernote's getting acquired by mobile developer Bending Spoons". The Verge.
  21. ^ "Evernote has been acquired — here's how its new owner can fix it". TheNextWeb. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  22. ^ Purdy, Kevin (10 July 2023). "Evernote, the memory app people forgot about, lays off entire US staff". Ars Technica. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  23. ^ Leach, Kamaron (10 January 2024). "IAC Divests Mosaic Apps to Bending Spoons in Deal Valued Above $100 Million". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  24. ^ "Italy's Bending Spoons acquires Mosaic Group's digital assets from IAC". Reuters. 10 January 2024.
  25. ^ Roth, Emma (11 January 2024). "Meetup got acquired by Bending Spoons". The Verge. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  26. ^ Ferrari, Luca (8 January 2024). "A New Home for Meetup". Meetup Blog. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  27. ^ O'Brien, Amy (11 April 2024). "Hundreds of millions in revenue and three acquisitions in 2024 — what's behind Bending Spoons' success?". Sifted. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  28. ^ "Digital publishing platform Issuu acquired by Bending Spoons". Editor & Publisher. 22 July 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  29. ^ Pollina, Elvira (31 July 2024). Weir, Keith (ed.). "Italy's Bending Spoons buys file sharing service WeTransfer". Reuters. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  30. ^ "Bending Spoons plans to lay off 75% of WeTransfer staff after acquisition". TechCrunch. 8 September 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  31. ^ Chesto, Jon (25 November 2024). "Video company Brightcove sold for $233 million to Italian app developer". Boston Globe. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  32. ^ Priestley, Jenny. "Brightcove announces layoffs following acquisition by Bending Spoons". TVB Europe. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  33. ^ "Bending Spoons Acquires komoot". BusinessWire. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  34. ^ Ksienrzyk, Lisa (8 May 2025). "Komoot: Was hinter dem Verkauf steckt". WirtschaftsWoche.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  35. ^ "Bending Spoons compra Vimeo per 1,38 miliardi di dollari". Forbes Italia (in Italian). 10 September 2025. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  36. ^ "Life at Bending Spoons: Billion-dollar acquisitions, lavish offsites and an 'utter disrespect for elders'". Sifted. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  37. ^ "Bending Spoons Acquires Vimeo". Bloomberg. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  38. ^ Temkin, Marina (2 December 2025). "Bending Spoons agrees to buy Eventbrite for $500M to revive stalled brand". TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  39. ^ Gil, Bruce. "Vimeo Lays Off 'Most' of Its Staff, Allegedly Includes 'the Entire Video Team'". Gizmodo. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  40. ^ JoJack, Beth (20 February 2026). "AOL to lay off 108 tied to Reston office". Virginia Business. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.