Bending Spoons announces drastic redundancy plan for WeTransfer: 75 per cent staff cut
Bending Spoons, the Italian app development company, announced a redundancy plan that will involve 75 per cent of WeTransfer's staff. This move is part of Bending Spoons' strategy to make WeTransfer more competitive in the market. Bending Spoons has already adopted this strategy with other companies such as Evernote, Filmic and Meetup. Meanwhile, Bending Spoons has raised funding totalling $155 million and expects to reach revenues of $700 million this year
2' min read
2' min read
After the acquisition, comes a maxi-layoff plan. Bending Spoons is reportedly planning to lay off 75 per cent of the staff of WeTransfer, the collaboration and file-sharing platform founded in the Netherlands and acquired in July. It was the website TechCrunch that first broke the news, which was later confirmed by the company. 'I won't be more specific at this stage because the layoff has not yet been fully defined,' CEO Luca Ferrari replied via email to Reuters news agency.
For Bending Spoons, an Italian company active since 2013 in the development of apps - including Immuni, which was sold to Sogei and PagoPA and divested at the end of 2022 - and which brought in apps such as Evernote and Meetup, the reorganisation would be part of the strategy to make WeTransfer 'more agile and focused'.
The strategy
.As Ferrari's CEO himself explained to TechCrunch, the move on WeTransfer is nevertheless part of a precise strategy of Bending Spoons, linked to the need to put companies in the best possible condition to compete over the years. "Once the vision is clear, we try to bridge the gap between the status quo and the vision as quickly and completely as possible. This usually involves major changes in many areas, including the organisation. We don't like to make painful or unpopular decisions, but we are prepared to do so when we believe it is the right thing to do to help the company thrive,' Ferrari told TechCrunch. Confirming this strategic vision, the company would also intervene in this way with Evernote, Filmic and Meetup.
Funding
.Bending Spoons raised $155 million in equity financing in February from new investor Durable Capital Partners and other existing investors, including Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, NB Renaissance, NUO Capital and StarTIP (controlled by Tamburi Investment Partners). This year, according to the company, revenues are expected to reach USD 700 million with over 200 million monthly active users.
As for WeTransfer , the 350-employee company was founded in 2009 in the Netherlands and in 2022 attempted to list itself on the stock exchange in Amsterdam with an estimated valuation of up to EUR 716 million: an idea that was later dropped due to volatile market conditions.
