Luca Ferrari says Bending Spoons is 25% private equity and 75% technology company that buys businesses outright and keeps them forever, aiming to become an institution like Berkshire Hathaway.
Bending Spoons raised $700m in equity at an $11bn valuation after using free cash flow, then commercial bank debt, for its first five years.
Ferrari says AI is mostly positive for Bending Spoons because no business unit exceeds about 20% of revenue, and replacing complex SaaS products is many years away.
Bending Spoons buys software companies and keeps them forever
Bending Spoons is built to be a permanent owner of digital businesses and a lasting institution. Going from zero to one is largely luck, so the founders chose to be excellent at functional skills and to buy products from owners tired of running them. Owning many businesses under one roof then gives cost, talent and technology advantages that a single product company lacks.
Takeaways
Bending Spoons buys companies and keeps them forever. Ferrari calls it 25% private equity and 75% technology company. It makes only full acquisitions, never minority stakes, and rethinks the whole business rather than just replacing management. His goal is a lasting institution in the mold of Berkshire Hathaway.
Owning many businesses creates compounding operating advantages. Shared ownership brings better vendor terms, R&D and marketing that move between businesses, and easier hiring. About 800,000 people applied in 2025 for roughly 250 jobs. Competitors would need many years to match its talent, culture and technology.
Price discipline and clear criteria guide acquisitions. Targets need scale, predictable future performance and room for meaningful improvement. Ferrari follows a Buffett-style approach of offering a fair price and walking away rather than paying 25% more. It bids on about twice as many companies as it buys.
Evernote shows higher prices can coexist with retention. Bending Spoons paid about 50% above the next best offer, rebuilt the cloud infrastructure and shipped about 250 significant improvements in two and a half years. Prices rose about 60% on average, about 10% of customers left, and retention hit a record.
Cash flow funded growth before debt and equity. Free cash flow paid for the first five years, then came commercial bank debt. Equity was raised mainly for employee secondaries, with dilution near 10%. The latest round was $700m at an $11bn valuation, and Ferrari prefers permanent capital to avoid forced sales.
AI is mostly good for Bending Spoons. Most business units are about 20% of revenue or less, so no single product is badly exposed, and AI will likely help aggregators. Ferrari thinks replacing complex SaaS products is many years away, and he says most AI businesses look overpriced.
From Evertale to Bending Spoons
Ferrari and his cofounders worked about a hundred hours a week for nearly four years on Evertale, which raised about 1m euros and nearly went bankrupt.
The leftover cash became seed capital for Bending Spoons in 2013, while Ferrari worked about a year at McKinsey to pay rent.
Months of cold outreach produced only one small contract.
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On this episode 2
Show 1
Ferrari argues that going from zero to one depends heavily on luck, so the team chose to excel at functional skills and buy businesses from tired owners.
The first purchase was an iOS keyboard app bought for $10,000.