Italian mobile‑app developer Bending Spoons announced on 10 September 2026 that it will acquire online‑whiteboard platform Miro for $1.36 bn in cash, a price that represents a 92% decline from the $17.5 bn valuation the collaboration‑tool startup commanded in late 2021.
Deal details and the valuation gap
The transaction is being paid entirely in cash, with an equity value of $1.79 bn when the $1.36 bn cash consideration is added to assumed debt and other liabilities, according to TechCrunch. The figure is starkly lower than the $17.5 bn price tag that investors placed on Miro during the pandemic‑driven surge in software‑as‑a‑service (SaaS) valuations.
| Metric | Late 2021 | 2026 (pre‑deal) |
|---|---|---|
| Valuation (USD) | $17.5 bn | $1.36 bn cash (deal) |
| Annual Recurring Revenue | N/A | $600 m |
| Paying Users | N/A | 4 m |
| Enterprise Revenue Share | N/A | 90 % |
| Source: TechCrunch | ||
Miro’s most recent annual recurring revenue (ARR) stands at about $600 million, with roughly 90 % of that coming from enterprise customers. The platform now serves more than 4 million paying users, a figure that, while impressive, is modest compared with the $600 million ARR, indicating a high‑value enterprise focus.
Why the price reflects the SaaS multiple unwind
The 92 % drop in valuation is not an isolated incident; it mirrors a broader correction across the SaaS sector. During 2020‑2021, investors poured capital into cloud‑based collaboration tools, driving revenue multiples to 30‑40 times ARR in some cases. As growth slowed and macro‑economic pressures mounted, those multiples have retreated to the high‑single‑digit range.
In Miro’s case, the $600 million ARR translates to a cash‑consideration multiple of roughly 2.3 × ARR, a figure that aligns with the current market median for mature SaaS businesses. By contrast, the 2021 valuation implied a multiple of about 29 × ARR – a level that only a handful of hyper‑growth firms justified at the time.
Analysts at research firms have noted that the contraction is driven by three forces: (1) tighter capital markets that demand profitability over growth; (2) a slowdown in corporate spending on digital transformation projects; and (3) heightened competition from larger cloud providers that can bundle white‑boarding tools with broader suites. The Miro deal provides a concrete data point for those trends.
Bending Spoons’ roll‑up strategy
Founded in 2013 in Milan, Bending Spoons has built a reputation for creating and scaling consumer‑facing mobile apps. In recent years the company has pivoted toward a roll‑up strategy, acquiring software assets that have fallen in valuation but retain strong recurring revenue streams.
Prior to the Miro transaction, Bending Spoons completed purchases of several European SaaS firms at discounts ranging from 30 % to 70 % off their peak valuations. The firm’s public filings (Form 6‑K) show a steady cash balance that comfortably supports multiple acquisitions in a single fiscal year.
By adding Miro’s enterprise‑grade collaboration platform to its portfolio, Bending Spoons gains a foothold in the corporate software market—a segment that offers higher average contract values and longer sales cycles than the consumer apps that have traditionally powered its growth.
Implications for the market and unanswered questions
The acquisition sends a clear signal to private‑equity investors and strategic buyers: high‑valued SaaS companies are now open to being bought at deep discounts, provided they retain solid ARR and a defensible enterprise customer base.
For Miro’s existing customers, the change of ownership could bring both opportunities and risks. Bending Spoons has hinted at accelerating product integration and expanding AI‑driven features, but the deal also raises questions about potential staff reductions – the company has already cut jobs twice since 2022, and the current headcount is undisclosed.
Regulatory approval is another unknown. The transaction will likely require clearance from competition authorities in the European Union and the United States, given Miro’s extensive integrations with platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Atlassian. No timeline has been published, but similar cross‑border software deals have taken three to six months to clear.
Finally, the broader market will watch whether Bending Spoons can extract synergies from the deal. If the firm can raise Miro’s ARR by even 20 % over the next 12 months, the effective multiple would climb to roughly 2.8 × ARR, improving the economics of the purchase. Conversely, failure to grow the platform could cement the deal as a bargain‑hunter’s win but a strategic misstep for Bending Spoons.
In sum, the $1.36 bn cash price not only confirms the steep unwind of SaaS multiples since the pandemic boom but also illustrates how a European tech consolidator is positioning itself to capture value in a market that has shifted from growth‑centric to profitability‑centric investing.