WeTransfer

Bending Spoons to buy Airtable for $1.28B

Bending Spoons agreed to acquire Airtable for an enterprise value of $1.285 billion, marking the buyer’s first major deal since going public. Airtable reported roughly $480 million in ARR with over 20% year‑over‑year growth, implying an EV/ARR near 2.7×. An SEC filing shows Airtable spun out its AI agent platform (Hyperagent) before the sale, so the transaction covers the database, customers, workflows and recurring revenue but excludes the agent business. The company’s cash position is reported differently: filings show about $965 million in cash on the balance sheet, while Bending Spoons disclosed roughly $2.25 billion in net cash and cash equivalents, yielding an implied equity value materially above the EV. The purchase price is a steep discount to Airtable’s pandemic‑era peak valuation above $11 billion (about $11.7B).

Bending Spoons IPO Tests Buy‑Gut‑Hold Strategy

This analysis examines Bending Spoons’ serial-acquirer strategy—buy, cut, raise prices, and “hold forever”—in the context of its recent US IPO. The company has acquired roughly 50 businesses (Evernote, Vimeo, WeTransfer, Eventbrite, AOL among them) and reported rapid headline growth (revenue from $387M in 2023 to $1.31B in 2025) and high margins. Much of that growth was acquisition-driven: organic revenue growth was ~13% in 2025 (7% in 2024), blended net revenue retention is 94%, and capital deployed on deals jumped from $194M in 2023 to $2.01B in Q1 2026. Large purchases include Vimeo ($1.38B) and AOL ($1.45B); the IPO priced above its reference range and finished its first trading day with a multibillion-dollar valuation. The piece questions whether the model is durable in an AI-driven era and whether the public markets are correctly valuing a highly levered, consumer-exposed rollup.

Bending Spoons Files for IPO, Targets $20–22B Valuation

Italian app acquirer Bending Spoons, owner of consumer apps including Komoot, Vimeo, Evernote, Eventbrite, WeTransfer and AOL, has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to pursue a public listing. The company did not disclose deal size, share price or timing in its SEC filing. Bloomberg, citing sources, reported Bending Spoons is targeting a valuation of roughly $20–22 billion and an IPO window in June. The SEC documents show a financial turnaround: in Q1 2026 the company reported net income of $27.5 million on $601 million revenue, versus a net loss of $112 million on $259 million revenue in the year‑earlier quarter. The firm’s buy‑transform‑optimize rollup model has attracted criticism for layoffs and price increases at acquired apps.