Bending Spoons to buy collaboration tools maker Miro for $1.36B, 90% less than its 2022 valuation

Bending Spoons, the Milan-based software acquirer, is purchasing Miro for $1.36 billion in an all-cash deal. The price tag represents a stunning 92% collapse from Miro's $17.5 billion valuation in late 2021, marking one of the steepest startup markdowns in recent years.

Miro, founded in 2011, operates an online collaborative whiteboarding platform used by design teams, product managers, and enterprises for brainstorming and project management. The company raised capital at a breakneck pace during the pandemic, when remote work tools exploded in demand. A Series C round in 2021 valued the company at $17.5 billion. By 2022, Miro had reached an estimated $20 billion valuation in secondary markets, cementing its status as a unicorn darling.

The acquisition reflects the brutal reset in SaaS valuations that began in late 2022 and accelerated through 2023 and 2024. Collaboration platforms that boasted hockey-stick growth metrics during lockdowns face renewed scrutiny over unit economics, churn rates, and path to profitability. The broader category, populated by Figma, Asana, Slack, and Notion, has faced investor pressure to demonstrate sustainable growth rather than vanity metrics.

Bending Spoons has built a reputation as a serial acquirer of distressed or underperforming SaaS companies. The investor rolls up software tools, cuts costs aggressively, and either integrates them or operates them independently under a holding company model. Previous acquisitions include Splice (music collaboration), Evernote (note-taking), and CausalLabs (analytics).

For Miro, the $1.36 billion valuation signals deep challenges. The company burned through cash faster than it could grow revenue. Public SaaS comps trade at 5-8x revenue multiples in this environment. At $1.36 billion, Miro likely generates somewhere in the $150-200 million revenue range, suggesting the deal trades at roughly 7-9x revenue. That's not cheap by historical standards, but represents catastrophic value destruction for early Miro investors and employees.

Bending Spoons' acquisition strategy relies on operational efficiency and ruthless cost management. Expect significant headcount reductions at Miro. The company will likely consolidate its product roadmap, eliminate redundant functions, and extract operational leverage. Bending Spoons has signaled willingness to hold assets for long periods before monetization or secondary exit.

The Miro deal also highlights the deflation in the collaboration software category. Figma, once trading at a $20 billion private valuation, has tempered growth expectations. Asana and Monday.com, both public companies, trade well below their pandemic highs. Notion, despite strong product adoption, has struggled to demonstrate clear monetization paths.

For Miro employees and investors, the acquisition ends uncertainty but locks in massive losses. Series A and B backers likely see returns closer to 10x, while later-stage investors face near-total write-downs. The company's employees will face retention risk and potential layoffs.

This deal signals that the era of $15+ billion SaaS valuations without clear paths to profitability has ended. Bending Spoons continues betting that it can restore these companies to health through operational discipline.