Losing Grindr helped turn Bending Spoons into an acquisition

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Losing Grindr helped turn Bending Spoons into an acquisition machine. “While being a failure because we didn't acquire it, I think we had compressed so much learning into those 9 months. Basically we raised half a billion dollars without actually raising it, but it was fully committed.” Co-Founder Francesco Patarnello says it forced Bending Spoons to learn about raising debt, raising equity, & talking with banks & investors at a scale it had never dealt with before.

Molly O’Shea@MollySOShea1d ago

Bending Spoons’ Head of M&A Francesco Patarnello says the acquisition that got away was Grindr. They started pursuing it in 2019, when Bending Spoons was a fraction of its current size. “Everyone we talked to thought we were crazy, because it would've been a massive acquisition for us at the time. The equivalent would be today doing a $20B acquisition.” Francesco says half the company was focused on due diligence for almost a year, and managed to assemble a fully financed offer. Then another buyer came in.

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