Bending Spoons has raised more than €500m in debt to finance future acquisitions.
The Italian software unicorn is best-known for buying other successful apps and products. It confirmed to Sifted the debt funding — provided by big-name backers like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs — will underwrite this ongoing strategy.
“We expect to seal at least one more acquisition before the end of the year (or early next year),” CEO Luca Ferrari told Sifted over email.
The company has bought around 50 other startups since launching in 2013, including cycling and hiking app Komoot, streaming platform Brightcove, file transfer platform WeTransfer and note app Evernote.
The other banking giants participating in the deal are BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Banco BPM, Bank of America, Barclays, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mizuho, Société Générale and Wells Fargo.
$1bn+ revenue
In an interview with Sifted in April, Ferrari said Bending Spoons is expecting to make revenue north of $1.1bn this year — and all of its businesses are profitable.
Ferrari also told Sifted in April that Bending Spoons had over $1bn to spend on at least three further acquisitions before the end of the year. The extra €500m is to “grow even faster”, the company confirmed in an email.
Bending Spoons’ equity investors include Baillie Gifford and Endeavor Catalyst.