Bending Spoons, which hosts call probably the largest app company in the world, reportedly passed $500m in 2024 revenue and is rumored to be heading toward an IPO.
Darius says Bending Spoons typically lays off most staff after acquisitions, offering sixteen weeks of severance while paying Milan salaries above 100K.
Darius says his studio runs about 200 creatives each morning, with roughly 90% failing by noon, and copies competitors' best ads to find winners.
Bending Spoons grows bought apps through trends, ads and paywalls
Bending Spoons scales a consumer app business by acquiring apps and running them with aggressive growth tactics. Trend-driven downloads, hundreds of tested ads and a weekly-plus-annual paywall turn installs into subscription revenue. Whether the model lasts is contested, since it depends on the App Store.
Takeaways
Bending Spoons buys apps and makes them profitable. The company blends a technology firm with private equity, buying apps and overhauling them. Sensor Tower lists 278 apps, including Evernote, WeTransfer, Brightcove and Komoot, bought in March 2025. 2024 revenue is rumored to exceed $500m.
Remini grows by riding TikTok trends. Remini supplies about 10m of the company's 13 to 14m monthly downloads. A mid-2023 baby filter trend put it first in the App Store, and weekly revenue reportedly rose from about $90,000 to almost $600,000.
Weekly-plus-annual paywalls have become the standard template. Onboarding funnels end in a paywall with a tiny close button leading to a free version. Darius sells weekly plans at $7 to $10 and annual plans at $40 to $60, arguing weekly compounds over time. Superwall now ships it as a default.
Renewal rate matters more than install conversion. About 3% of US iOS installs become paying subscribers, up to 5% for better apps. Annual plans renew around 30% to 40%, monthly about 6% and weekly under 1%. Darius says renewal is the number to watch.
Paid acquisition is a creative testing machine. Most revenue comes from US iOS, with paid acquisition on Facebook and TikTok. Darius tests about 200 creatives each morning, sees around 90% fail by noon, and copies competitors' best ads. Apple search ads can reach $30 per install in fitness.
TikTok rewards content volume, not followers. Darius says a team can post 100 videos a day and scale only the two or three that work. Creator and influencer work is the biggest part of app acquisition. One developer made about $80,000 profit from a ChatGPT action figure trend.
The staff model is lean, well paid and demanding. After acquisitions most staff are laid off, with sixteen weeks of severance. Milan salaries exceed 100K and headcount is about 450. Candidates complete five to ten hours of unpaid tests first, and unwanted churn is claimed below 1%.
How Bending Spoons started
Six cofounders formed the company in 2013 after a failed app startup.
They agreed that whoever landed the highest-paying job would support the others while they built apps.
Luca Ferrari, later CEO, took a McKinsey job for sixteen months.
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On this episode 4
Show 1
The first purchase was a keyboard app for $15,000.
It raised $340m in September 2022, with Ryan Reynolds and Eric Schmidt among investors, and about $155m in early 2024 at a $2.5bn valuation.
Whether the model lasts
Darius says the funding went to acquisitions and the company now generates cash.
Jakub Remiar says Embracer and Stillfront tried this model in games and it ended badly. He compares it to a Ponzi scheme.