Bending Spoons made its NASDAQ debut with a US$1.7 billion IPO.
The Italian technology company Bending Spoons, which acquired Eventbrite in December, Vimeo last September and former Hopin product Streamyard in the spring of 2024, made its public debut on the NASDAQ yesterday with a US$1.7 billion initial public offering.
Related: Eventbrite’s US$500m acquisition by Bending Spoons | Meetings & Conventions Asia
Bending Spoons, named after the Matrix-popularised concept of bending spoons with one's mind, has been implementing its playbook across a wide variety of tech companies, a number of them at least tangentially related to event technology. Bending Spoons seeks to "acquire, transform and optimise" companies, most of which are facing revenue-generating challenges, and then reinvests in those companies with AI-driven features and approaches. This typically involves massive layoffs and the application of streamlined budget models.
Or, as Bending Spoons puts it in the filing, they often bring established businesses back to startup mode. “When we acquire a business, we typically restructure it significantly, often transitioning to a much smaller, more talent-dense organisation," reads the filing. "We also eliminate as many rules and processes as is feasible, while promoting greater individual responsibility and accountability. The goal is to accelerate the pace of innovation while achieving outstanding cost efficiency.”
Successful market debut
Bending Spoons sold 58 million shares at US$29 apiece in its debut and saw prices rise by more than 10% during trading yesterday, according to SeekingAlpha.com. Shares are currently priced at US$36.36 as of press time today, an increase of more than 25% over the initial asking price. According to its prospectus, Bending Spoons intended to clear a cool US$954 million in proceeds from the IPO, with shareholders receiving all proceeds beyond that.
Turning around businesses
Eventbrite, Vimeo, Streamyard, AOL, Meetup, WeTransfer and Evernote are just some of the products now in the Bending Spoons portfolio. In March 2026, Bending Spoons businesses served more than 500 million active monthly users and more than nine million monthly paying customers, according to the IPO filing. Revenue grew from US$387 million in 2023 to US$1.31 billion in 2025.
But as the company clarified in the filing, Bending Spoons is focused on the long run rather than on short-term gains.
Company executives see tremendous opportunity ahead. They claim to have identified more than 1,000 digital businesses, both private and public, as acquisition targets, representing nearly US$400 billion in estimated aggregate revenue. “With AI as a potentially powerful tailwind, we believe we’re well positioned to grow for years to come,” reads the filing.
Source: Northstar Meetings Group