Bending Spoons Acquires Miro for $1.36B — a 90% Drop from Its $17.5B Peak Valuation

Bending Spoons Makes Its Move: Acquiring Miro for $1.36 Billion

Italian software company Bending Spoons has announced it will acquire online collaborative whiteboard tool Miro for $1.36 billion. The deal has drawn widespread attention — not so much for the price tag itself, but because it represents nearly a 90% haircut from Miro's peak valuation.

In a late-2021 funding round, Miro was valued at $17.5 billion, making it one of the most high-profile unicorns in the remote collaboration space. The $1.36 billion acquisition price signals that the market value of this collaborative whiteboard tool has all but evaporated in just a few years.

From $17.5B to $1.36B: How the Valuation Bubble Burst

The Post-Pandemic Hangover

Miro's meteoric rise was inextricably tied to the global remote work wave. Between 2020 and 2021, companies rapidly shifted to online collaboration, driving explosive demand for Miro's visual whiteboard tool and sending its valuation soaring. That $17.5 billion figure was forged during a unique window of zero interest rates and remote work euphoria.

As the pandemic faded and hybrid work became the new normal — combined with a broader reassessment of SaaS valuation logic by capital markets — many collaboration tools that had been over-hyped during the pandemic experienced a sharp correction. Miro's 90% valuation discount stands as one of the most striking examples of this downturn.

A Collective Reset for High-Flying SaaS Valuations

Miro is far from alone. Over the past two years, a large number of SaaS and collaboration startups that raised at 2021 peak valuations have faced the grim reality of down rounds or being forced into distressed sales. As interest rates climbed and growth slowed, the market began applying far stricter profitability standards to these companies — and the revenue multiples of 30x or 40x that once seemed reasonable simply couldn't hold.

Bending Spoons: A Quiet but Aggressive Software Acquisition Machine

Targeting Established but Struggling Software Products

Bending Spoons has built a reputation in recent years through a series of bold acquisitions. The Milan-based company specializes in acquiring mature software products with large user bases but sluggish growth. Its portfolio already includes well-known brands such as note-taking app Evernote, social events platform Meetup, and file transfer service WeTransfer.

Its core business model is straightforward: buy products with large user bases but poor profitability at a discount, then extract value through cost optimization, operational restructuring, and monetization upgrades. This "value mining" playbook has made Bending Spoons a distinctly different kind of consolidator in the software industry.

Why Miro?

For Bending Spoons, Miro fits the classic acquisition profile: a substantial enterprise customer base and strong brand recognition, but a valuation that has fallen dramatically from its peak — offering a clear "buy the dip" opportunity. Once the acquisition closes, Bending Spoons will most likely streamline Miro's operations and double down on monetization to improve profitability.

Broader Implications for the SaaS and Collaboration Tools Industry

The Valuation Bubble Deflation Continues

Miro's low-price acquisition further confirms that a cohort of tech companies that reached sky-high valuations around 2021 are undergoing a painful reassessment. For investors, it's a sharp lesson that cyclical tailwinds don't equal long-term value. For founders, it's a reminder that even under the halo of a sky-high valuation, building a sustainable path to profitability remains essential.

M&A Consolidation Is Becoming the Default Exit for SaaS Companies

With the independent IPO window narrowing and follow-on fundraising increasingly difficult, being acquired is becoming the practical reality for a growing number of SaaS startups. Consolidators like Bending Spoons may play an even more prominent role in the years ahead — acting as a key force in absorbing the industry's excess, reshaping product landscapes, and working through the aftermath of the bubble.

For Miro's users and employees, this deal brings both uncertainty and the possibility of a new, more stable operational direction. Whether it ultimately succeeds depends on whether Bending Spoons can preserve Miro's product value while finding a sustainable path to monetization.