Bending Spoons: an immediate surge on Wall Street: +38%
The Milan-based company is listed on the Nasdaq and its shares immediately soar, pushing the company’s value to over 24 billion
It’s like a school-leaving exam, only with billions at stake. For the former Milan-based start-up Bending Spoons, the doors to the world of high finance have swung open with its listing on the Nasdaq. And no, it wasn’t a day like any other.
The company had completed its IPO above the price range. The shares were priced at $29 prior to the market debut. However, they immediately surged to over $43, before falling back to $40.09 (+38.24%) at the close.
It should be noted that the fundraising total stood at 1.68 billion dollars. This is a considerable sum, particularly given that the placement came at a delicate time for the software sector, which is still reeling from (more than reasonable) fears that artificial intelligence could throw traditional business models into crisis.
Indeed, over the course of this year, software companies have been virtually absent from the US IPO market, in the wake of the cracks that AI has opened up in the certainties of giants such as Adobe (to give just one example). It is precisely against this backdrop that Bending Spoons’ debut has taken on a significance that extends beyond the company itself.
A hybrid model
Bending Spoons’ business model is actually quite hybrid. It’s something of a cross between private equity and a software-focused tech company. Over the years, the Milan-based firm has pursued a fairly clear strategy: buying struggling digital companies and reviving them by cutting staff and overhauling the technology from scratch. Since 2025, the group has acquired the Brightcove streaming platform, the video service Vimeo (which was once described as YouTube’s true rival), the long-established AOL brand and the Eventbrite ticketing platform. All of these companies have a significant history behind them, but for various reasons, they have since seen their growth slow down.
