M&A Market: Founders Dispatch: Bending Spoons' Bargain Acquisitions and Scale-Up Europe Fund

In the second episode of the podcast 'Founders Dispatch', Stefan Köppl of Samira Advisors and Jakob Steinschaden discuss Italy's Bending Spoons, a tech giant with a $24 billion valuation, and its aggressive acquisition strategy in Europe. The company has bought Miro for $1.8 billion (90% below peak) and Airtable for $1.3 billion (80% discount), following a playbook of mass layoffs and cash flow optimization. The episode also covers the Scale-Up Europe Fund, a €5 billion EU fund managed by EQT, which has rapidly made five investments, including in IceEye, Lovable, and a €3 billion round in Mistral AI. Mistral's challenges with profitability and a 'neo-cloud' strategy are highlighted. The discussion touches on Europe's sovereignty dilemma, noting Samsung's investment in Mistral and the broader question of technological independence.