I came across an interesting upcoming European tech IPO. It’s an Italian software company called Bending Spoons. Their business model has some similarities with Constellation Software, which is also popular here. The company aggressively acquires software companies that are in a stable phase; the ones I know of are all consumer applications. These companies are often from the US, and their development and maintenance are moved to Italy for in-house production. At the same time, development is largely scaled down and maintenance is handled with minimal resources, which should result in top-tier profitability while the appeal of well-known brands continues for a long time.
Well-known brands include the likes of Vimeo, Evernote, WeTransfer, Eventbrite, and AOL. I couldn’t find the exact number of products. According to the company itself, they have over a billion registered users (likely many from here as well), over 400 million active users, and over 7 million paying users. Users have apparently felt that the quality of products has declined after the acquisitions. However, the company has been promoting AI add-ons and their development.
The IPO timeline was announced this month. The listing would take place on the Nasdaq in the US, with a planned valuation of 20 billion dollars. Unfortunately, they have also planned Class A and B shares to secure voting power for the founders. Revenue for last year was 1.31 billion dollars, and Q1 has already reached 601 million dollars. Growth is 132%. Q1 net profit was 27.4 million dollars. More detailed figures are not yet available. Vimeo was acquired at the end of last year; I couldn’t find information on whether anything has been acquired this year.
Overall, it’s an interesting find. A very different kind of company than what I’ve come across. Especially for a European company, this sounds like a very exceptional approach. You’d think this kind of “innovation” would only be found on the other side of the pond. It’s also interesting on a general level whether this will have an impact on the EU’s thoughts on regulation and whether regulation will affect the company.