Bending Spoons, the Italian company that built a sprawling tech portfolio by buying and overhauling struggling digital brands, has raised $1 billion in its Nasdaq debut. The company sold 58 million shares at $29 each in a $1.7 billion offering, with the remaining proceeds going to existing shareholders. Shares jumped 39.7% on the first day of trading, giving Bending Spoons a market value of $25.2 billion, according to the Associated Press.
The company owns more than 50 businesses, including Eventbrite, Vimeo, and AOL. Its playbook centers on acquiring established platforms, reorganizing them, and pushing them toward subscription revenue and AI-supported operations. As of March, the portfolio reached more than 500 million monthly active users and 9 million paying customers.
Bending Spoons began in 2013 after its founders’ first startup failed. The five-person team started with $40,000 and, as the company later wrote in its prospectus, a track record that read “0 for 1.” More than a decade later, the business generated $601 million in revenue and $27.5 million in net income during the first three months of 2026, though it also entered the public market carrying nearly $4.4 billion in debt. The company plans to use the new capital to keep acquiring businesses.
