Milan-based tech firm Bending Spoons is buying international occasion platform Eventbrite in an all-cash transaction valued at roughly €430 million ($500 million). The definitive settlement will see the US-listed Eventbrite turn out to be a privately held firm, with the deal anticipated to shut within the first half of 2026.
The acquisition provides yet one more high-profile title to Bending Spoons’ quickly increasing portfolio, which already contains Evernote, WeTransfer, Vimeo, komoot, and Meetup. The Italian firm has quietly turn out to be a powerhouse in digital product consolidation, making use of a technique of long-term possession and intensive post-acquisition funding.
“For twenty years, Eventbrite has stood on the forefront of the expertise financial system, serving to tens of tens of millions to create, uncover, and attend unforgettable occasions,” says Luca Ferrari, Bending Spoons CEO and co-founder. “Becoming a member of forces with Bending Spoons will speed up innovation and strengthen Eventbrite’s instruments and assets to convey much more folks collectively by way of shared reside experiences for a few years to return.”
EU-Startups’ reporting over the previous two years exhibits a timeline of Bending Spoons pursuing a constant technique of large-scale digital consolidation, supported by vital financing exercise.
In 2025, the corporate raised over €500 million in debt to speed up its acquisition pipeline. Shortly after, it accomplished one of many 12 months’s largest European tech transactions with the €1.1 billion cash acquisition of Vimeo. Earlier protection traces foundations of this technique: in 2023, Bending Spoons acquired digital publishing platform Issuu.
Collectively, these stories depict an organization steadily increasing its possession of established digital platforms, setting a transparent precedent for main acquisitions equivalent to as we speak’s Eventbrite information.
“As longstanding followers, we’ve recognized a number of alternatives that we’re enthusiastic about exploring with the Eventbrite crew after closing the transaction. These embody constructing a devoted messaging function, introducing AI for simpler occasion creation, enhancing searchability, and making a system for the secondary ticket market. We’re dedicated to investing in Eventbrite for the long term, and hope we’ll be capable to assist it attain new heights,” provides Ferrari.
Based in 2013 and headquartered in Milan, Bending Spoons has established itself as a quietly dominant participant in digital acquisitions. Its merchandise are utilized by over one billion folks globally, with greater than 400 million month-to-month energetic customers and ten million paying clients.
Its mannequin of reworking reasonably than flipping acquired corporations has made it an outlier within the tech funding world.
Eventbrite, based in 2006 by Julia Hartz, Kevin Hartz, and Renaud Visage, has grown into some of the recognised platforms within the expertise financial system.
In 2024, the corporate powered over 4.7 million occasions and issued 83 million paid tickets globally.
“Eventbrite helped unlock one thing profoundly human: the necessity to collect, to attach, and to construct neighborhood across the passions we share. What started as an unmet want – to empower native creators and neighborhood leaders to convey folks collectively – has grown into a world motion that has formed tens of millions of significant experiences and helped event-goers discover their folks in moments that matter most,” says Julia Hartz, Eventbrite co-founder, Chief Government Officer, and Government Chair.
“There has by no means been a extra essential time to convey the world collectively in actual life. As we glance forward, I’m energised by the velocity, assets, and progressive energy of Bending Spoons to propel Eventbrite into its subsequent chapter,“ provides Hartz.
Below the settlement, Eventbrite shareholders will obtain €3.87 ($4.50) per share in money, an 82% premium over the corporate’s 60-day volume-weighted common share value as of 1 December 2025.
The transfer follows intently on the heels of Bending Spoons’ €1.1 billion ($1.38 billion) acquisition of Vimeo and a signed deal to take over AOL.
As soon as the transaction closes, Eventbrite will delist from any inventory change and start life underneath Bending Spoons’ umbrella, signalling a brand new period for each corporations – and for the broader reside experiences trade.
