Italian Public Company Bending Spoons Acquires Online Collaboration Whiteboard Company Miro for $1.355 Billion
Italian public company Bending Spoons has reached an all-cash agreement to acquire online collaboration whiteboard company Miro for an enterprise value of $1.355 billion, with an equity value of approximately $1.79 billion after accounting for net cash. The deal is expected to close in Q4 2026, pending regulatory approval. Some Miro shareholders have agreed to reinvest $295 million of the proceeds into newly issued Bending Spoons shares. Both boards have unanimously approved the deal, and the companies will operate independently until closing.
Miro has an annual recurring revenue of approximately $600 million, with nearly 90% coming from enterprise customers. It has over 4 million paid users and around 100 million total users, connecting more than 250,000 organizations, with over 750 customers generating annual recurring revenue exceeding $100,000. Reports indicate it has net cash of about $435 million and is profitable. The enterprise value represents a revenue multiple of about 2.3 times. Its valuation peaked at $17.5 billion at the end of 2021, making this acquisition roughly 10% of its peak value. The company had around 1,200 employees around 2022, followed by two rounds of layoffs. Its products have shifted to include AI assistants, workflows, prototypes, and integrations with GitHub, Jira, and Slack.
Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari stated that they will enhance performance, reliability, and key collaboration features, and operate with a long-term hold strategy. The company recently completed the acquisition of Airtable for approximately $1.29 billion, and also has Vimeo, AOL, and others in its portfolio. The strategy is to acquire well-known software assets and integrate operations. The stock ticker is BSP.
The seller capitalizes on the whiteboard boom during the pandemic, while the buyer uses cash and some seller reinvestment to reduce one-time cash pressure. The multiple is significantly lower than 2021 software valuations, reflecting the compressed pricing of collaborative tools due to repeated purchases.
From a market mechanism perspective, this is a mature SaaS discount clearing. The buyer is an Italian group rolling up software assets; the seller consists of shareholders looking to exit high-valuation books, with some exchanging shares for continued bets on integration. Funds flow from Bending Spoons' cash and new shares to Miro shareholders. The beneficiary is the buyer, who can acquire profitable companies at about two times revenue; the pressure is on holders of similar collaboration stocks still priced at over ten times revenue. The event is driven by the agreement, which has not yet closed.
On a supplementary note, the specific shareholder list for the $295 million reinvestment has not been disclosed. Regulatory approval is a variable for closing.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Miro's enterprise value has dropped from $17.5 billion to $1.355 billion, not due to product disappearance, but due to the collapse of multiples. With still four million paid users, $600 million in revenue, and profitability, it indicates that the whiteboard has become a default layer in enterprise workspaces, no longer enjoying peak remote work multiples. Bending Spoons follows the same script of acquiring Airtable and then Miro: seeking tools with brand recognition, recurring revenue, and grounded valuations, paying cash while allowing some old shareholders to roll into their stock.
The capital path is to 'buy cash flow at a discount, then extract with operational discipline.' The $1.355 billion for $600 million in revenue is about 2.3 times, with net cash boosting equity value, and reinvesting $295 million reduces net cash outflow. Money flows from the Milan-listed company's balance sheet into collaboration software, then recoups from enterprise renewals. The motivation is not to tell another unicorn story, but to incorporate already established workflows into a long-term depreciable portfolio. Ferrari emphasizes performance and reliability, acknowledging that growth relies on retention and price increases, not on burning more market expenses.
In contrast to thrift-style acquisitions like Evernote, and private equity harvesting consumer-to-business tools: both are buying user habits after multiples collapse. The industry phase shifts from expansion to controlling embedded assets. The pricing power in the collaboration space shifts from growth funds to acquisition platforms that can manage cost lines.
The structural change represents capital concentration. The mechanism is: once software becomes the default whiteboard for enterprises, revenue can survive independently of valuation; after the valuation bubble bursts, cash buyers use low multiples to consolidate scattered tools, then dilute sales and R&D with the same backend. Peak shareholders bear the multiple loss, while new controllers purchase renewal rates.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
Users remain, what has collapsed is the multiple, not the product.
When acquiring profitable software at about two times revenue, the acquisition is cheaper than revaluation.
Sellers reinvesting in stock are converting cash exits into bets on integrators.