By Daniele Lepido and Tom Mackenzie | Updated on Oct 09, 2026 at 10:24 AM
Falling valuations for software companies create buying opportunities, Bending Spoons SpA Chief Executive Officer Luca Ferrari said, as his firm aims to benefit from artificial intelligence disrupting the industry.
The Italian firm, which takes over established digital businesses and seeks to boost revenue per customer, benefits from AI on two fronts, Ferrari said in an interview Friday.
One benefit is the so-called SaaSpocalypse, which pummeled software company valuations on investor fears that customers could replace their services with AI, he said. AI also enables Bending Spoons to buy up more businesses and improve their products faster, he added.
“Valuations in SaaS were unreasonably high and had been for probably a decade,” Ferrari said, referring to the business known as software as a service.
There was a massive software selloff in public markets earlier this year, although valuations have largely recovered. The S&P software and services index lost more than a quarter from the start of 2026 through early April but is now up slightly for the year.
Current valuations are reasonable given the cash flow potential of those businesses, according to Ferrari.
Read More: What’s Behind the ‘SaaSpocalypse’ Stock Plunge?
Milan-based Bending Spoons buys companies and overhauls their software and operations, often cutting staff and raising subscription prices. Its portfolio includes AOL, video platform Vimeo, file-sharing service WeTransfer and note-taking app Evernote.
The company went public on Nasdaq in July and its shares have gained 31% to date.
Ferrari said Bending Spoons uses AI to write at least 90% of its code, as well as to design products, optimize monetization and assess job applicants. He declined to quantify savings, saying the bigger advantage is the ability to expand its acquisition model and improve businesses faster.
The company completed its purchase of workplace-software firm Airtable in early September and agreed that month to acquire collaboration platform Miro in a transaction valuing the business at $1.36 billion.