Milan-based tech company Bending Spoons is making waves again. This time, it’s through the acquisition of Eventbrite in a $500 million all-cash deal. Eventbrite, a major player in enabling local creators and communities to host events, joins the ranks of other high-profile additions to Bending Spoons’ growing portfolio, which already includes Evernote, Vimeo, and Meetup.
I’ve been bootstrapping startups for years, and watching Bending Spoons is like observing someone play chess while others are stuck at checkers. They’re not just buying faded platforms, they’re spotting opportunities for growth, rethinking user experience, and making smart bets on the longevity of the experience economy.
Here’s how this acquisition looks from the perspective of a female founder navigating the European startup ecosystem.
What This Deal Means
Let’s unpack the main details of the acquisition first. Eventbrite, founded in 2006, has long been a go-to platform for both local events and larger gatherings. Over the years, it has facilitated millions of events, but the challenge has always been innovating fast enough while maintaining sustainable ticket pricing models. This is where Bending Spoons enters.
Luca Ferrari, CEO of Bending Spoons, explained that this acquisition is about future-proofing Eventbrite’s tools and ensuring its relevance in the years to come. From adding AI-driven event creation features to exploring secondary ticket markets, the plan is to reinvigorate the platform’s offerings. For European entrepreneurs, this reinforces an important truth: your platform doesn’t have to be the flashiest, but it does need a focused vision to remain relevant.
Lessons for Female Entrepreneurs
1. Know What You’re Good At, and Scale That
Eventbrite didn’t try to become everything to everyone. It carved out a niche helping small businesses, communities, and creators organize events. As a bootstrapping founder, I find this lesson critical. Start with your best skill or most obvious audience segment, test it, and grow from there. Scaling too fast without a foothold in your core offering is a recipe for burnout.
2. Invest in Long-Term Tools
Bending Spoons isn’t just acquiring platforms, they’re investing in their long-term development. Eventbrite will gain enhanced features like smarter event creation tools and better messaging capabilities. Female founders often juggle limited budgets, but setting aside funds for well-chosen tools and systems can distinguish you from competitors down the road.
How to Apply These Insights Yourself
Bending Spoons' granular focus suggests steps worth emulating. Here’s a quick guide based on takeaway strategies:
- Build Iteratively: Start with a problem or audience that’s both manageable and specific. Over-engineering or trying to create “the next big thing” is less effective than refining one great idea.
- Understand System Weaknesses: Look at Eventbrite’s move into the secondary ticketing market. Weaknesses can become an advantage if you’re smart about solving them and unafraid to tackle hard problems.
- Collaborate for Growth: Bending Spoons relies on partnerships and acquisitions. Smaller businesses can do the same by collaborating with others, even informally through shared marketing efforts.
Common Mistakes Women Founders Can Avoid
I’ve worked with countless female entrepreneurs through Fe/male Switch, and some pitfalls are consistent:
- Over-perfectionism: Key Rivals Beat You to Market
Waiting for a “finished” product delays launches unnecessarily. Instead, test publicly and tweak. - Avoiding Strategic Acquisitions or Partnerships
Collaboration doesn’t dilute your brand, it can accelerate market penetration and credibility. - Overlooking Mentoring Opportunities
Platforms such as Eventbrite rely on networks of users. Strengthen yours through mentorship and customer feedback loops.
Let Bending Spoons remind you that you don’t need to do it all solo. Collaboration isn’t just a business tool, it’s survival.
Eyeing Statistics: The European Angle
For European women in business, deals like these set a precedent. According to EU Startups, 34% of startup founders in Europe identify as female, and while funding disparities remain stark, the ability to bootstrap and focus on niche markets is a growing advantage. Startups that exhibit laser focus on solving specific issues, much like Eventbrite initially did with events, can punch above their weight.
The Takeaway for Aspiring Founders
This acquisition solidifies Bending Spoons as a company that doesn’t just adapt, it leads. Whether you’re a female founder trying to bootstrap your first SaaS platform or a creative freelancer scaling operations, there’s a clear lesson here: sustained growth is built on insights, innovation, and patience.
For me, running Fe/male Switch started as a mission to rethink how women could enter tech confidently. Watching companies like Bending Spoons reminds me why aiming for sustainable growth and solid community building is an ongoing priority. If you’re looking to enter or scale within tech, the first step is simple: take that raw idea, refine it, and start executing. Right now.
FAQ
1. What is Bending Spoons' recent acquisition?
Bending Spoons has acquired Eventbrite, a global event platform, in a $500 million all-cash deal. Read about the acquisition
2. Why did Bending Spoons acquire Eventbrite?
The acquisition aims to enhance Eventbrite's tools, including AI-driven event creation, messaging capabilities, and secondary ticketing features. Explore the strategic goals
3. How does this acquisition benefit Eventbrite?
Eventbrite will receive additional resources and innovation to evolve its technology and bolster the experience economy for live events. Learn more about Eventbrite's evolution
4. What is Bending Spoons' approach to acquisitions?
Bending Spoons revitalizes platforms by investing in their long-term growth rather than short-term profits. Read about their acquisition strategy
5. Which other significant acquisitions has Bending Spoons made?
The company has acquired Vimeo, Meetup, WeTransfer, and Evernote, following its strategy to enhance digital platforms' utility. Check out previous acquisitions
6. What is Eventbrite's significance in the experience economy?
Eventbrite connects local communities and creators by enabling millions of events annually, supporting both small-scale and global live events. Discover Eventbrite's impact
7. How has Bending Spoons evolved in the tech industry?
Starting in 2013, Bending Spoons has developed a robust user base of over one billion and a portfolio of innovative tools across multiple industries. Learn more about Bending Spoons
8. What challenges does Eventbrite face in the ticketing market?
Eventbrite has seen revenue stagnate recently, making strategic innovation essential to regain its competitive edge. Explore Eventbrite’s market challenges
9. Is Eventbrite going private after the acquisition?
Yes, the acquisition will result in Eventbrite becoming privately owned and delisted from public exchanges. Read more about privatization
10. How can female entrepreneurs learn from these acquisitions?
Female founders can emulate strategies like niche focus, iterative growth, and strategic partnerships to accelerate success in tech. No specific link available.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
