--- title: "Bending Spoons Jumps 40% in Nasdaq Debut, Defying the Software Slump" description: "Bending Spoons, the Milan-based owner of apps including Evernote, WeTransfer, Vimeo and AOL, priced its Nasdaq IPO at $29 a share and closed its first day at $40.50 — a roughly 40% pop that valued the company near $26 billion and raised about $1.68 billion. The strong debut stood out in a cautious market for software listings." category: "Companies" category_url: https://boursel.com/category/companies author: "Hannah Blackwood" published: 2026-07-01T23:45:00.000Z updated: 2026-07-01T23:45:00.000Z canonical: https://boursel.com/article/bending-spoons-jumps-40-in-nasdaq-debut-defying-the-software-slump tags: ["ipo", "bending-spoons", "nasdaq", "software", "saas"] --- # Bending Spoons Jumps 40% in Nasdaq Debut, Defying the Software Slump Bending Spoons, the Milan-based owner of apps including Evernote, WeTransfer, Vimeo and AOL, priced its Nasdaq IPO at $29 a share and closed its first day at $40.50 — a roughly 40% pop that valued the company near $26 billion and raised about $1.68 billion. The strong debut stood out in a cautious market for software listings. A profitable Italian software company made a loud entrance on the U.S. stock market on Wednesday, in a debut that cut against the gloom hanging over technology listings. **Bending Spoons** priced its **initial public offering (IPO)** at **$29** a share and closed its first day of trading on the **Nasdaq** at **$40.50** — a jump of roughly **40%**, [TechCrunch reported](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/01/bending-spoons-defies-saas-slump-surges-40-on-first-day-of-trading/). At that price the 13-year-old, Milan-based company was worth about **$25.7 billion**, [more than double its last private valuation of around $11 billion](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-01/aol-owner-bending-spoons-jumps-6-9-after-1-68-billion-ipo). The offering raised about **$1.68 billion**. (An **IPO** is the first time a private company sells shares to the public and lists on a stock exchange, both to raise money and to let early investors and employees cash out.) ## What Bending Spoons does Bending Spoons has grown by **buying aging but well-known apps** and squeezing profit out of them — typically through aggressive cost-cutting, new features and higher prices. Its portfolio reads like a tour of the consumer internet's past two decades: **Evernote**, **WeTransfer**, **Vimeo**, **Meetup**, **Eventbrite**, **Brightcove** and, most famously, **AOL**, [per Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-01/aol-owner-bending-spoons-jumps-6-9-after-1-68-billion-ipo). The model resembles a private-equity playbook — acquire, cut costs, raise prices — but with a twist: rather than flipping companies for a quick resale, Bending Spoons **keeps** what it buys and runs it for the long term. Most of its revenue comes from **subscriptions**, the recurring model that now underpins most software. ## Why a 40% first-day pop cuts both ways A first-day surge that large is genuinely strong demand — but it isn't unambiguously good news for the company. A big "pop" can also mean the IPO was **underpriced**: shares sold to the bank's chosen investors at $29 that the open market immediately valued at $40 represent money the company arguably **left on the table**. Investors who got in at the offer price captured that gain; the company raised less than it might have. Either way, the debut was a notable **vote of confidence** in a specific kind of software business. Much of the **software-as-a-service (SaaS)** sector — apps delivered over the internet on a subscription, rather than installed on your own computer — has faced a wary market this year, with investors punishing companies that burn cash for growth without clear profits. Bending Spoons pitched the opposite story: an operator that **buys cheaply, cuts hard and turns a profit.** ## Why it matters For the **IPO market**, a splashy, oversubscribed debut is a useful signal that investors will still pay up for tech listings — provided the company can show **discipline and earnings**, not just growth. For the **software industry**, Bending Spoons' rise is a reminder that there is real money in **operating mature apps efficiently**, not only in building the next new thing — though its cost-cutting, price-raising approach has drawn criticism from some users of the products it acquires. Boursel takes no view on the stock, and a strong open day says little about where shares go from here. The takeaway is narrower and real: in a nervous market for software, a profitable roll-up of old apps just pulled off one of the year's stronger debuts. ## Sources - [Bending Spoons defies SaaS slump, surges 40% on first day of trading](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/01/bending-spoons-defies-saas-slump-surges-40-on-first-day-of-trading/) - [AOL owner Bending Spoons jumps after $1.68 billion IPO](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-01/aol-owner-bending-spoons-jumps-6-9-after-1-68-billion-ipo)