Italian mobile app developer Bending Spoons SpA has acquired WeTransfer, a Dutch file-sharing service that backed out of a public listing two years ago.
The companies announced the deal had closed on Wednesday without sharing financial terms.
The Milan-based Bending Spoons has snapped up a number of software firms and assets in the last few years and began scouting more deals globally after a financing round in February gave it a valuation of $2.6 billion. In 2022, it bought Evernote, the company behind the popular note-taking app. Bending Spoons also pursued the video-hosting service Vimeo Inc. But dropped the bid when the parties couldn’t agree on price, Bloomberg News reported earlier.
WeTransfer, which formed in 2009, had planned an initial public offering in Amsterdam with a targeted valuation of up to €716 million ($776 million) before withdrawing from the process in early 2022. The company blamed a tough market for tech IPOs at the time.
The company said it has 600,000 subscribers and 80 million monthly active users for its service, which makes it easier to transfer large files online, and has touted its popularity with artists and filmmakers. Chief Executive Officer Alexandar Vassilev, a former Google manager, said that last year WeTranfer’s sales had grown 25% to €132 million, with a little over half coming from advertising and the remainder from subscriptions.
Bending Spoons also operates Remini, a photo-and-video editing app that uses AI. Luca Ferrari, CEO of Bending Spoons, said his company now has more than $600 million in revenues, before accounting for WeTransfer sales.
“It’s a terrific business where we nonetheless see a substantial opportunity for improvement,” Ferrari said in emailed comments.
His company plans to invest $3 million over the next two years in a foundation WeTransfer established to support artists. Ferrari declined to say how many WeTransfer employees he would retain.
