Firms like Bending Spoons provide a viable exit for venture-backed businesses that have product-market fit but stalled growth. Their playbook involves aggressive cost-cutting, implementing AI for efficiency, and running the asset for profitability, creating a new "acquirer of choice" category.

Despite owning multiple related businesses (e.g., in video), Bending Spoons deliberately avoids forcing synergies like cross-selling or bundling. They believe the value lost in organizational agility, ownership, and speed far outweighs the small potential revenue gains. This 'Procter & Gamble for tech' model allows each brand to operate with startup-like autonomy, preserving its unique value.

Bending Spoons' M&A strategy came from realizing that creating a startup from scratch (zero-to-one) is heavily luck-dependent. In contrast, scaling an existing business (one-to-N) relies on functional skills like engineering and marketing that can be systematically mastered and applied across acquisitions.

Bending Spoons operates as a tech-focused version of Berkshire Hathaway, acquiring digital businesses like Evernote and AOL with the intent to hold and operate them forever. They use a large, in-house team of technical and product experts to radically transform these assets, funding new acquisitions from their balance sheet rather than operating as a traditional private equity fund that buys to flip.

Airtable, once valued at $11.7B, was acquired by Bending Spoons for an enterprise value of $1.285B. This outcome, where late-stage investors barely recoup capital and common stock holders get little, highlights the harsh reality of the SaaS market correction for even well-funded unicorns.

Before its acquisition by Bending Spoons, Airtable spun out its AI business, Hyper Agent. This strategic move allows the founding team and key talent to shed the legacy business, recapitalize, and focus exclusively on the higher-potential AI venture, turning a disappointing exit into a new opportunity.

Unlike PE firms that flip companies, Bending Spoons acquires digital businesses to own permanently. Their model focuses on deep operational overhauls—rebuilding software, redesigning UI, and restructuring organizations—rather than making shallow management changes, creating long-term value through operational excellence.

Italian firm Bending Spoons is successfully acquiring beloved but struggling internet brands like Evernote and Vimeo. By cutting costs, raising prices, and consolidating back-end operations, they create a profitable portfolio of SaaS companies with strong recurring revenue, proving a value-investing model works for tech.

Bending Spoons finds value in acquiring legacy brands because their user bases have survived decades of competition. These customers are 'self-selected' and highly resilient, reducing the risk of disruption compared to investing in a fast-growing but unproven company that has yet to face significant market challenges.