Bending Spoons seeks up to $1.62B in US IPO at ~$19B valuation
What's the deal? Bending Spoons, the Italian tech company that acquires and revamps software businesses, is seeking to raise as much as $1.62 billion in a US initial public offering. The Milan-based firm plans to market 58 million shares at $26 to $28 apiece, which would value it at up to $19 billion.
About 60% of the IPO shares will come from the company, with the rest sold by existing shareholders including Baillie Gifford. Bending Spoons is targeting an early-July debut on the Nasdaq under the ticker BSP.
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Allen & Co are leading the offering.
Why now? The US IPO market is firing on all cylinders. Companies have raised a combined $150 billion through 179 US IPOs so far this year — the strongest start since 2021, according to Dealogic. SpaceX's record-breaking debut earlier this month and Cerebras Systems' listing have signalled renewed appetite for high-profile tech offerings.
Bending Spoons' own financials tell a turnaround story. It reported net income of $27.5 million on $601 million in revenue for Q1, compared with a net loss of $112.2 million on $259 million in revenue a year earlier. The company raised $710 million in late 2025 at an $11 billion pre-money valuation — meaning the IPO would mark a significant step up.
What could go wrong? The listing tests investor appetite for software companies, a sector that has produced few large IPOs in recent years as AI reshapes business models and intensifies competition. Bending Spoons' acquisition-heavy strategy — its portfolio now spans Vimeo, WeTransfer, AOL, and Eventbrite — also carries integration risk, and investors may scrutinise whether the company can sustain growth across such a diverse set of products.
The signal: This would be one of the largest IPOs by a European company this year and a rare US listing by a major software firm. Founded in 2013, Bending Spoons has built its business by buying underperforming digital products and squeezing more value out of them — a model that has drawn comparisons to private equity but in the consumer software space.
Its path to a $19 billion valuation in just over a decade, from a startup in Milan to a Nasdaq-listed acquirer of iconic internet brands, reflects two broader trends: the continued gravitational pull of US capital markets for ambitious European companies, and the emergence of acquisition-driven roll-up strategies as a viable route to scale in software.
Read more: Reuters
