Bending Spoons · B2C · Italian app holding company
Borrow $600M from banks to buy famous apps that have been neglected
Bought Evernote for a rumored $100M+; results not discussed
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What they did
Bending Spoons raised about $600M of debt from Italian banks, then bought Evernote, a well-known US app that was a good business but 'left by the wayside'. Part of a roll-up approach: centralize back-office services (marketing, content, finance) across owned apps.
What happened
Acquired Evernote, price undisclosed but rumored well north of $100M. Guest says roll-ups like this are reaching good scale and profitability.
- Effort
- ~$600M debt facility
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Building the Berkshire Hathaway of Consumer Subscriptions — Eric Crowley, GP Bullhound“The biggest one that I would point to is Bending Spoons just did a really big deal with some Italian banks. They borrowed about 600 million of debt”
“And then they went out and bought Evernote, which is a really famous US app. Was a good business, had kind of maybe been left by the wayside”
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More from Bending Spoons
All 2 Bending Spoons tacticsMore from this episode
- Borrow no more than 2-3 times yearly profit to buy a subscription appLenders need $3-5M profit first; banker's rule from deals, no outcomes given
- Palta: Own several apps in one category and sell them as a bundle
- Lynda.com: Sell the same consumer courses to companies using the buyer's sales team
- Photoroom: Sell your app's core tech to businesses as an APICohost credits business users for its stickiness; no numbers