Luca Ferrari turned a failed startup into one of Europe’s most unconventional technology companies but his distinctive perspective goes beyond technology M&A. Ferrari is focused on building talent-dense teams, improving organisations and using AI to fundamentally rethink how work gets done.
As co-founder and CEO of Bending Spoons, Luca Ferrari has built an Italian technology company that has acquired more than 50 digital businesses, including Evernote, Vimeo, WeTransfer, Eventbrite and AOL.
Ferrari believes great technology businesses do not always need to be invented. They can be bought, rebuilt and run better. Bending Spoons looks for companies with established products, loyal users and room for substantial improvement. It then applies its own engineering, product, monetisation and organisational expertise, often rebuilding the business from the ground up.
This strategy grew from failure. Ferrari and his three co-founders spent three years building Evertale, an early AI startup that ultimately collapsed. They were left with $40,000 but realised they were much better at engineering, design, marketing and monetisation than finding product-market fit. Rather than start again from zero, they decided to buy businesses that had already found it, then make them better.
That decision became Bending Spoons. The company has since developed a permanent-capital model that sits between technology company, acquirer and operator. Unlike private equity, it does not buy businesses with an exit in mind. It keeps them, rebuilds them and recycles the cash into new acquisitions. In 2025, Bending Spoons generated $1.3 billion in revenue, while its 2026 Nasdaq IPO valued the company at $18.4 billion.
The distinction is important. Luca Ferrari’s focus is not simply on acquiring companies, but on what happens after the deal. Bending Spoons has found little value in cross-selling across its portfolio. Instead, it concentrates on improving each business through better technology, product, monetisation and organisational design. For Ferrari, the acquisition is only the starting point. The real advantage lies in execution.
That same philosophy shapes his approach to AI. Ferrari estimates AI has already made Bending Spoons roughly three times more productive. His ambition goes beyond using AI as an assistant. Every Spooner can have an AI counterpart with access to the tools needed to complete work end-to-end. For Ferrari, the strategic question is not whether companies are talking about AI, but whether they are willing to redesign how work actually gets done.
Luca Ferrari
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As co-founder and CEO of Bending Spoons, Luca Ferrari has built an Italian technology company that has acquired more than 50 digital businesses, including Evernote, Vimeo, WeTransfer, Eventbrite and AOL.
Ferrari believes great technology businesses do not always need to be invented. They can be bought, rebuilt and run better. Bending Spoons looks for companies with established products, loyal users and room for substantial improvement. It then applies its own engineering, product, monetisation and organisational expertise, often rebuilding the business from the ground up.
This strategy grew from failure. Ferrari and his three co-founders spent three years building Evertale, an early AI startup that ultimately collapsed. They were left with $40,000 but realised they were much better at engineering, design, marketing and monetisation than finding product-market fit. Rather than start again from zero, they decided to buy businesses that had already found it, then make them better.
That decision became Bending Spoons. The company has since developed a permanent-capital model that sits between technology company, acquirer and operator. Unlike private equity, it does not buy businesses with an exit in mind. It keeps them, rebuilds them and recycles the cash into new acquisitions. In 2025, Bending Spoons generated $1.3 billion in revenue, while its 2026 Nasdaq IPO valued the company at $18.4 billion.
The distinction is important. Luca Ferrari’s focus is not simply on acquiring companies, but on what happens after the deal. Bending Spoons has found little value in cross-selling across its portfolio. Instead, it concentrates on improving each business through better technology, product, monetisation and organisational design. For Ferrari, the acquisition is only the starting point. The real advantage lies in execution.
That same philosophy shapes his approach to AI. Ferrari estimates AI has already made Bending Spoons roughly three times more productive. His ambition goes beyond using AI as an assistant. Every Spooner can have an AI counterpart with access to the tools needed to complete work end-to-end. For Ferrari, the strategic question is not whether companies are talking about AI, but whether they are willing to redesign how work actually gets done.
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Articles & Videos
Building A Tech Giant
Buying product-market fit & beating private equity
Before the $18B IPO
How Bending Spoons is buying up your favourite apps from Milan
Italian Tech Week 2025
When to kill your startup and when to keep fighting
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