Italian software acquirer Bending Spoons has purchased collaboration platform Miro for $1.36 billion in cash, representing a 92% plunge from the workplace tool's $17.5 billion valuation in late 2021. The deal, reported by TechCrunch on September 10, underscores how dramatically valuations have collapsed for software-as-a-service companies that reached their peak during the pandemic-era investment boom. What was once a fast-growing remote work darling has become the latest target in Bending Spoons' strategy of snapping up well-known software firms at steep discounts to their former prices.
Miro, which started in 2011 as a whiteboarding tool called RealtimeBoard, exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic as companies shifted to remote work and employees sought to recreate the experience of collaborating on physical whiteboards. The platform grew from 5 million to roughly 30 million users between 2020 and 2022, while its paying customer base expanded by 550% during that same period. Today, Miro serves more than 100 million total users and 4 million paying customers, generating about $600 million in annual recurring revenue with 90% coming from business and enterprise clients. The company holds approximately $435 million in net cash and operates profitably, according to Bending Spoons. Despite these solid fundamentals, Miro's workforce shrank from about 1,200 employees in 2022 through two rounds of cuts: 119 staff in February 2023 and reportedly another 275 in October 2024.
The deal marks the second major acquisition by Bending Spoons following its purchase of Airtable last month for $1.28 billion—another dramatic markdown from that company's $11 billion valuation in 2021. The transaction includes an equity value of $1.79 billion for Miro, which evolved from its whiteboard origins into what it now calls an "AI innovation workspace" featuring AI assistants, workflows, prototyping tools, and connectors that integrate with more than 250 apps including GitHub, Jira, and Slack. The platform built partnerships with major players like Atlassian, Cisco, Microsoft, and Zoom while allowing users to build custom integrations and tailor the product to their specific requirements.
The dramatic valuation drop reflects how SaaS multiples have unwound since 2021 as pandemic tailwinds faded and companies tightened spending by cutting duplicate apps and licenses. Miro faced competition from better-funded rivals including Canva, Figma, and Microsoft in the crowded workplace collaboration space, and businesses increasingly favored comprehensive product suites over standalone tools. Bending Spoons appears to be exploiting a specific market shift: large, recognizable SaaS firms that were priced in 2021 as future software giants but matured into slower-growing yet substantial businesses with decent recurring revenue and established user bases. The report questions why Miro's board and investors agreed to sell at this price given the company's profitability and cash position, suggesting that confidence in SaaS firms achieving public listings or comparable exits has fallen significantly. The acquisition pattern suggests a broader recalibration where once-inflated valuations meet a market willing to pay only for demonstrated performance rather than growth projections. Boards may be accepting modest returns now rather than gambling on a recovery that feels increasingly distant, particularly when competing against platform giants that bundle competing features into existing subscriptions.