Bending Spoons has acquired Airtable, adding it to a portfolio that already includes AOL, Evernote, WeTransfer, Brightcove, and Vimeo.
Airtable built its reputation as a provider of low/no-code database services aimed particularly at non-technical staff, but is now one of many vendors facing financial difficulties amid the SaaS/AI downturn. The rise of AI coding tools, which give non-technical employees more flexible ways to build business applications, has hit demand for its services.
Bending Spoons purchased Airtable in a deal valued at $1.285 billion — a significant drop from the $11.7 billion valuation Airtable reached at its peak.
Bending Spoons’ Acquisition Strategy
Bending Spoons has built its portfolio by acquiring once-successful companies that have struggled to compete with newer rivals or failed to adapt to emerging technologies. The company typically cuts costs and markets its acquisitions aggressively with the goal of returning them to profitability.
Luca Ferrari, Bending Spoons CEO and co-founder, commented on the acquisition: “Airtable is a pioneering brand reshaping how teams organize data and manage critical workflows. We’re committed to investing in Airtable for the long run, and doubling down on its core strength: bringing teams and workflows together in one flexible workspace. We plan to expand what can be done across the full spectrum of work and make Airtable even more valuable to customers at every scale.”
This article first appeared on InfoWorld.
