Bending Spoons CEO on going public, buying old tech brands and The Matrix

Luca Ferrari (0:00)

One of my co-founders, Matteo, is a big fan of the movie The Matrix, and there is a little kid at some point bending a spoon with his mind through telekinesis. And so, Matteo, they were brainstorming names, brings up the name, and we like it a lot for a few reasons. One, it just captures the idea that the mind is powerful, it can do a lot. More, perhaps, that you intuitively think it can. And also we thought the name was kind of a little bit funny.

Katie Prescott (0:27)

Hello, and welcome to the interview from Times Tech, our weekly conversation with the people shaping the future of technology. I'm Katie Prescott.

Danny Fortson (0:34)

And I am Danny Fortson.

Katie Prescott (0:36)

I've got such a treat for you this week. I've got an interview with what I think is one of the best named tech companies on the planet, Bending Spoons.

Danny Fortson (0:47)

Is this after Yuri Geller?

Katie Prescott (0:49)

No, although actually that has had an impact on the business when they try and look for news about them. They keep coming up against some of Yuri Geller's finest work. Bending Spoons for listeners who haven't heard of them is valued at $20 billion.

It listed on the NASDAQ earlier this year. And it's headquartered in Italy. I can tell you there are not that many Italian tech companies of this scale, right?

Danny Fortson (1:17)

No.

Katie Prescott (1:18)

It's kind of an extraordinary story and we'll get into it. But they buy up old tech companies and soup them up. It's almost a private equity company meets tech.

Danny Fortson (1:31)

Right. So who have they got?

Katie Prescott (1:33)

Evernote, remember them?

Danny Fortson (1:35)

I do remember Evernote, yes.

Katie Prescott (1:36)

AOL.

Danny Fortson (1:37)

AOL, yes.

Katie Prescott (1:39)

So another reason it's unusual is you got this Italian company and they've got lots and lots of techies and engineers. So as they go into these companies and unlike a private equity company, which might just strip them out, they haven't sold on any of these businesses. They plug in their own tech, they zhuzh up the management teams and try to make them better and keep them going.

Danny Fortson (1:59)

Did you say zhuzh up?

Katie Prescott (2:02)

I couldn't think of another way of describing it.

Danny Fortson (2:03)

Zhuzh.

So this sounds really interesting. My question is why? Because the idea of buying up a bunch of old apps, like my father-in-law, he's the only person I know who sells an aol.com email address, for example. So buying up these old apps that are kind of like, it's like an island of misfit toys, right?

Katie Prescott (2:26)

Like the cupboard in Toy Story.

Danny Fortson (2:27)

Yeah, exactly. And then we're like powering, steaming ahead with AI and all this new stuff, you know, occasional humanoid robot, of course. So whereas Bending Spoons feels like it's almost like looking backward and kind of trying to keep these things alive.

I've got questions, got questions.

Katie Prescott (2:46)

And I don't want to give away too much before you hear the interview, because he goes into all of this. But if you think about the name Bending Spoons that has come from The Matrix, it is meant to make your mind twist in unexpected ways. And they have gone to buy these companies because they see value in them and have created value in them. So it was started in 2013 by four Italian engineer graduates. And they all, including our guest today, Luca Ferrari, have done extraordinarily well out of it. As I said, it went public earlier this year. And hopefully, if you listen to the interview, all of your questions will be answered.

I have been really looking forward to this interview. You may not remember that last year, I think I spoke to you for the first time and you were on your way somewhere in an airport. Since then, a huge amount has happened with Bending Spoons, not least you going public a few months ago. What's that been like? Like, what are your reflections on being a public company after so long being private and what's that transition been like?

Luca Ferrari (3:49)

I try not to think about it too much, to be honest. It feels like being a little bit naked, it makes you uncomfortable. So I try to forget that we're a public company, just try to stay focused on building useful, powerful internal technology and finding good acquisition targets and trying to be as good as possible at what we need to be good at. We have been thinking about going public for a while, I guess, because it typically helps you get access to more and cheaper capital. And as a capital intensive business, where we need capital to grow faster, we are well aware of the headaches and pressures that come with being a public company. We've experienced some of that, but it's early. Ask me again in a couple of years, so I'll have a longer stock record.