Milan-based Bending Spoons is the low-profile operator behind a growing constellation of well-known internet brands, and it’s now moving to buy Eventbrite. The company has built a reputation for quietly acquiring popular but plateauing products, then overhauling their technology, pricing, and teams to squeeze out growth and efficiency. For a firm that rarely courts press, its footprint is surprisingly large — spanning consumer apps, creator tools, and enterprise platforms used by hundreds of millions.
What Is Bending Spoons and How It Operates Today
Bending Spoons describes itself as an acquirer and operator of digital businesses. Founded about a dozen years ago, it employs roughly 400 to 500 “Spooners” and says its portfolio has reached more than a billion people, with some 300 million monthly active users and around 10 million paying customers. The leadership prefers to stay out of the spotlight and let the products speak for themselves.
The company’s roots trace back to a Copenhagen startup called Evertale, which built the photo-sharing app Wink before shutting down. Several team members regrouped, initially creating in-house apps, then switching to acquisitions — a pivot cofounder and CEO Luca Ferrari recounted on the 20VC podcast. One notable exception to its buy-and-improve model was Immuni, Italy’s official COVID-19 contact-tracing app, which Bending Spoons created and donated in 2020.
An Operator Playbook, Not Private Equity Tactics
While its discipline may resemble private equity, Bending Spoons says it is not a financial sponsor flipping assets. It aims to “hold forever” and has never sold an acquired business, positioning itself as a long-term operator. The firm typically targets beloved products that have stalled under prior ownership, then rewires their codebases, refreshes the user experience, rethinks pricing and monetization, and reorganizes teams — often with headcount reductions.
That approach is not without controversy. Fans notice when free tiers get tighter or features are reworked, and job cuts routinely make headlines. Yet the company argues the changes are necessary to keep products sustainable and relevant at scale.
A Portfolio of Familiar Names Across Categories
Over the last few years, the deal cadence accelerated. Bending Spoons acquired Evernote in a transaction announced in 2022 and closed in early 2023, followed by layoffs and a more limited free plan. It bought Filmic in 2022 and later let go of the entire staff. In 2024, it added Meetup, Hopin’s StreamYard, and Mosaic Group within months.
That same year it purchased Issuu and WeTransfer. WeTransfer’s free tier saw stricter limits after the takeover, and its cofounder publicly criticized the changes in 2025. Bending Spoons also announced a $233 million all-cash take-private of Brightcove in late 2024. In 2025 it continued shopping, picking up the route planner Komoot and business software maker Harvest.
Two bigger, brand-name targets — AOL and Vimeo — pushed Bending Spoons further into mainstream awareness. The company said AOL remains among the world’s top email providers, claiming 8 million daily and 30 million monthly active users. Vimeo’s stockholders approved its deal, and layoffs followed after closing, according to Business Insider. Earlier acquisitions include the AI-powered photo enhancer Remini.
How the Eventbrite Acquisition Fits Bending Spoons
Bending Spoons agreed to acquire Eventbrite for about $500 million, a steep discount from Eventbrite’s $1.76 billion IPO valuation. The fit is strategic: Eventbrite’s event management and ticketing engine could be paired with Meetup’s communities and StreamYard’s live production tools, opening cross-sell and workflow synergies. Expect the operator playbook — pricing experiments, product simplification, and infrastructure tuning — to surface quickly.
The path isn’t guaranteed. Eventbrite stockholders have filed a lawsuit in Delaware challenging voting rights tied to the take-private, and the company is opposing an effort to fast-track the case. Regulatory clearances and closing conditions could still influence timing and terms.
Funding Firepower, Valuation, and Investor Backing
Bending Spoons became one of Europe’s rare tech decacorns in 2025, with reports pegging its valuation near $11 billion following a $270 million equity round from T. Rowe Price alongside existing backers Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, and Fidelity. A concurrent $440 million secondary gave liquidity to early shareholders, and the company previously lined up $2.8 billion in debt to finance the AOL transaction and future deals.
The ascent created paper billionaires out of its founders. Forbes, citing shareholder data filed with the Italian Business Register, estimated CEO Luca Ferrari’s stake at roughly $1.4 billion and cofounders Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella, and Francesco Patarnello at about $1.3 billion each. The cap table also features notable names from sports and entertainment, including Andre Agassi, Bradley Cooper, The Weeknd, The Chainsmokers, and Maluma, as well as tech figures Eric Schmidt, Mike Krieger, and Xavier Niel.
What to Watch Next as Bending Spoons Expands
Bending Spoons is hiring aggressively — it said it received more than 600,000 job applications in 2025 — while maintaining that it’s a demanding, performance-driven environment. The company has also held talks with banks about a potential NYSE listing; Ferrari told Reuters that a U.S. venue would likely deliver higher valuations if the firm goes public.
For Eventbrite creators and attendees, the near-term questions are familiar: Will fees change, will free tiers shrink, and what new integrations might appear with sister products? If past deals are a guide, Bending Spoons will move fast post-close. Whether those moves delight power users or reignite backlash will determine how this operator-led consolidation reshapes the internet tools millions rely on.
