Just yesterday, Bending Spoons announced that it was ready to acquire AOL and had secured $2.8 billion in debt financing. Today, the scaleup is raising the stakes by announcing that it has raised $710 million in equity, with a pre-money valuation of $11 billion. The round was led by funds managed by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, with participation from Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Foxhaven Asset Management and Radcliff, among others.
“This moment represents the culmination of ten years of work and is an important recognition of what we have achieved so far at Bending Spoons. We are still at the beginning of our journey and have ambitious plans to continue investing and growing,” said Luca Ferrari, co-founder and CEO of Bending Spoons, in a statement. We are proud to welcome some of the world’s leading investors, who believe in our approach to value creation and the potential of future opportunities.
The round includes $270 million in primary capital and $440 million in secondary capital. Bending Spoons also recently secured a $2.8 billion financing package from several leading global banks. The company plans to use these resources to further develop its proprietary technologies and artificial intelligence capabilities, as well as to pursue new acquisitions that expand its portfolio of digital products for consumers and businesses. In the last two months alone, Bending Spoons has entered into agreements to acquire AOL and Vimeo, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including, in the case of Vimeo, approval by its shareholders.
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