The a16z Show · Nov 1, 2026 · 44m · 34m saved
With Luca Ferrari, Co-Founder and CEO of Bending Spoons
Photo via Reuters
Two years ago none of the code at Bending Spoons was written by AI. Luca Ferrari, co-founder and CEO of Bending Spoons, told The a16z Show that the share is now about 94%, and that he would hold any well-run company to at least 70%.
Most software buyers worry that cheap AI-written code will let anyone clone their products. Luca's view is that writing software was always cheap, and that the companies he buys survive for other reasons.
"Mostly software or digital products do not succeed because it's very expensive to replicate them... They mostly succeed because of other factors. First mover advantage... network effects... proprietary data." — Luca Ferrari
Luca has done 50 to 60 acquisitions, among them Airtable, AOL, Vimeo, Eventbrite, Komoot and WeTransfer, each moved onto one shared technology base and run for cash. He started the company with what was left of a failed startup in Denmark.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 44 minutes of audio, 10 minutes of reading.
Here are the 10 lessons that matter.
Key Takeaways
Bending Spoons buys companies, raises their cash flow, then borrows against it to buy bigger ones
50 to 60 acquisitions so far, including Airtable, AOL, Vimeo and WeTransfer
Luca picked long-run free cash flow over a better valuation, more than once
Leverage stays well below 3x, and all of the debt is hedged against rate moves
Luca puts the risk of default "close to zero"
SaaS multiples were already too high before AI, priced for 12% organic growth over 15 years
What protects software is rarely the cost of copying it: network effects, data and habit do
Eventbrite has 90 million people a month looking for tickets
AI now writes about 94% of Bending Spoons' code, up from 0% two years ago
1. Buy, Integrate, Lever Up
Anish Acharya, a general partner at a16z, asked Luca to explain the model. Bending Spoons buys technology companies, moves them onto its own platform and team, and spends about ten years changing their economics so they produce far more cash.
Bending Spoons runs every acquisition on the same technology and the same core team
"We buy technology companies where we see an opportunity to make them a lot more successful. And then we integrate them into our platform, same foundational technology, same core team, and try to transform them." — Luca Ferrari
The extra cash is then used as the base for debt, and the debt pays for the next deal. Luca put the count at 50 to 60 acquisitions.
"If we do that right, we take the extra earnings, and lever them up and buy more, bigger companies. Rinse and repeat." — Luca Ferrari
