What Bending Spoons will do with WeTransfer
Bending Spoons, an Italian company known for the development of the Immuni app and beyond, has concluded the acquisition of WeTransfer, a collaboration and file sharing platform founded in the Netherlands. All the details on the plans of the Milanese tech company.
After StreamYarde and Issuee, the Italian Bending Spoons also buys WeTransfer, the popular service that allows users to transfer large files online.
The Milanese company, known for the development of the Immuni app and beyond, announced that it has completed the acquisition of WeTransfer, a collaboration and file sharing platform founded in the Netherlands.
WeTransfer had tried to list on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange with a valuation of more than 700 million euros in 2022, only to then abandon the IPO due to volatile market conditions.
The Italian company, which has become one of the leaders in the development and marketing of smartphone apps, is accelerating on the acquisition front (WeTransfer is the fifth operation of the year), after closing a new financing round of 155 million in March dollars, obtaining a valuation of approximately $2.55 billion. In recent months it bought the digital businesses of Mosaic Group and StreamYard and just two weeks ago Issuu.
Now Bending Spoons "is a candidate to be one of the main European digital companies", writes Corriere della Sera today.
All the details.
THE VALUE OF THE OPERATION
The financial details of the operation were not revealed although "market sources indicate the value of the acquisition at 700 million euros, a number which according to American analysts pushes the overall valuation of Bending Spoons well beyond 3 billion dollars" , the Corriere notes again.
WHAT BENDING SPOONS WILL DO WITH WETRANSFER
Since WeTransfer has long been committed to social responsibility and the creative community, Bending Spoons promises to donate at least $3 million to The Supporting Act Foundation over the next two years. The foundation's mission is to support emerging artists and artist-led groups from underrepresented communities. Bending Spoons also commits to continue to reserve 30% of WeTransfer's advertising space for charitable campaigns and editorial content. Finally, WePresent will continue to showcase the work of deserving creatives, including emerging artists.
THE NUMBERS OF THE DUTCH PLATFORM
To date, the Dutch platform has more than 600,000 subscribers and 80 million monthly active users.
“Over the past decade, WeTransfer has grown from an extremely simple file sharing tool to a highly profitable and impactful platform, trusted by millions of professionals and creatives,” said WeTransfer CEO Alexandar Vassilev. “Additionally, cultivating creative communities and amplifying their voices has been key to our success. Some of Bending Spoons' most successful products are tools that serve creativity, so we are confident that this milestone will complement both businesses, strengthen our growth and help us create even more value for the creative industries overall." Vassilev added.
THE SUPPORT OF THE BANKS BANCO BPM, BNP PARIBAS AND INTESA SANPAOLO
Banco Bpm, Bnp Paribas/Bnl and Intesa Sanpaolo acted as Global Coordinator, Mandated Lead Arranger, Bookrunner, Underwriter and Lender. Banco Bpm, Bnp Paribas and Intesa Sanpaolo also acted as financial advisors. Specifically, Intesa Sanpaolo acted as Facility Agent and Security Agent. Milbank and Legance assisted the pool of banks involved in financing the operation.
THE FINANCERS OF THE MILAN TECH COMPANY
Founded in 2013, Bending Spoons has attracted the interest of institutional and private investors, including the aforementioned Intesa Sanpaolo and a small Hollywood team including the actor Bradley Cooper and the director Taika Waititi.
“Alongside these, there are some Italian partners including Renzo Rosso through Red Circle Investments, the Tip group and a small presence of the rapper and podcaster Fedez. While among the early investors there was also H14 led by Luigi Berlusconi", recalls Corriere .
RECENT ACQUISITIONS
In January it agreed to buy the digital businesses of Mosaic Group, a mobile software subsidiary of IAC that contains popular mobile apps such as Clime, Robokiller and iTranslate, and Meetup, a social network with 60 million members worldwide used to organize in-person and virtual events and meetings.
Then in May the former Milanese startup acquired the live streaming app StreamYard. Last July 19, Bending Spoons completed the acquisition of Issuu, a well-known digital publishing platform, which converts documents, such as magazines and paper books, into digital publications that can be browsed online. This time too, the financial details of the operation were not disclosed, nor the stake acquired by Bending Spoons, with the target being financed by Heartcore Ventures and KDDI.
FERRARI CEO'S STRATEGY
And now “WeTransfer is a highly respected name in the technological and creative fields – commented the co-founder and CEO of Bending Spoons, Luca Ferrari – We are thrilled to become its new owners and feel a strong sense of responsibility in helping the brand and the company to thrive for many years to come.”
To Corriere della Sera , the former Ferrari startupper said that the company wants to "move forward with our strategy, increasingly strengthening the platform and acquiring increasingly important technological products. Over time, we hope to build one of the most successful companies in the world." And the former Milanese startup shows itself to be a convinced resource for the Old Continent: “In Europe there are many brilliant and motivated people – is the answer – it is not necessary to be in Silicon Valley. We want to demonstrate that it is possible to build a technology company at the highest levels on a global scale even with roots in Europe and Italy."
This year Bending Spoon expects "revenues of almost 700 million dollars, a significant operating margin, more than 200 million active users per month and millions of subscribers around the world" explains the Ferrari CEO to the newspaper.
THE SPOONERS
Finally there are the "spooners" as the employees are called, the Corriere then recalls. “More than 200,000 people apply to work with us every year – says Ferrari – a number that has historically been growing rapidly. And most are not Italian. We receive applications from students from the best European universities every day. The reason? A very competitive salary and important benefits certainly help, but they are not the key. Since day one, eleven years ago, we have made no compromises on creating teams of absolute excellence."
Although not all employees of companies acquired by Bending Spoons automatically become spooners. As TechCrunch reveals, the Milan-based company also regularly fires staff from companies it acquires. In February 2023, it laid off 129 Evernote staffers. In December 2023, Bending Spoons cut all employees of Filmic, the popular photo and video editing app it acquired in 2022.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/cosa-fara-bending-spoons-con-wetransfer/ on Thu, 01 Aug 2024 08:15:41 +0000.