Bending Spoons’ four cofounders have officially joined the billionaire ranks. CEO Luca Ferrari’s stake in the Milan-based tech company is now worth around $1.4 billion, while Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella, and Francesco Patarnello each hold about $1.3 billion, according to Forbes estimates.
The valuations follow Bending Spoons’ recent $270 million funding round from investors like T. Rowe Price, Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital, and Fidelity, along with a $440 million secondary share sale. The company declined to comment on whether any founders sold stock.
Despite its quirky name, Bending Spoons keeps a low profile. Founded 12 years ago, the company usually appears in headlines only when it buys another recognizable brand, most recently, AOL. Unlike traditional private equity firms, Bending Spoons focuses on acquiring underperforming but still popular tech platforms and rebuilding them for long-term growth.
The company often restructures its acquisitions, introducing major changes or layoffs, as seen with Evernote and WeTransfer.
Its reach, however, is impressive. Bending Spoons’ portfolio of digital products has served over a billion people, with 300 million monthly users and 10 million paying subscribers. With about 400 to 500 employees, or “Spooners,” it specializes in acquiring and improving existing businesses rather than building new ones. Interestingly, it started with its own apps before pivoting to acquisitions after the founders’ previous startup, Evertale, failed.
The company’s model is simple: find a widely used but stagnant app, acquire it, and make it better. CEO Luca Ferrari said in a rare interview that the company overhauls everything from user experience and pricing to technical architecture and team structure. While its approach mirrors private equity strategies, Bending Spoons insists it’s different, it never sells what it buys, aiming instead to “hold forever.”
Its acquisition list is long and growing. After buying AI photo enhancer Remini, the company made bigger moves in recent years. It acquired Filmic in 2022, later laying off the entire team, and bought Evernote the same year, followed by cuts to staff and its free plan. In 2024, it snapped up Meetup, Mosaic Group, and StreamYard, then Issuu and WeTransfer. Later that year, it agreed to acquire Brightcove for $233 million.
This year, the spree continued with Komoot and Harvest. Bending Spoons also announced plans to buy Vimeo for $1.38 billion and AOL from Yahoo, with both deals expected to close by the end of 2025. The company is now valued at over $10 billion, making it one of Europe’s few tech decacorns. Its celebrity investors include Andre Agassi, Bradley Cooper, The Weeknd, The Chainsmokers, Eric Schmidt, Mike Krieger, and Xavier Niel.
The new funding will fuel more acquisitions and expand its AI technology. It also secured $2.8 billion in debt to support the AOL deal and future purchases. AOL remains among the world’s top ten most-used email providers, serving 8 million daily and 30 million monthly users.
Looking ahead, Bending Spoons plans to keep acquiring and transforming well-known digital platforms. The company has reportedly considered deals for Typeform and Elysium. Despite warning that its culture is “demanding,” it received over 600,000 job applications in 2025. With its growing influence and vast portfolio, Bending Spoons is quietly shaping the future of the internet, one acquisition at a time.
