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The Customers Who Were Already ThereNarrow moat

Bending Spoons (BSP) — moat facet

Bending Spoons owns a decade of other people's habits, and the proof is that it nearly doubled Evernote's price and kept 99% of the revenue.

If Bending Spoons has a moat in the ordinary sense, this is where it lives, and it was paid for rather than created. In the first quarter of 2026, 48% of subscription revenue came from customers with a tenure of at least five years, 28% from customers of at least ten years, and the revenue-weighted average subscriber tenure was 8.0 years1. Net revenue retention was 95% in 2025 and 94% in the first quarter of 20262.

Current deferred revenue ($M)58End-2023149End-2024451End-202558330 Jun 2026Form 424B4 and the Q2 2026 balance sheet; money customers have paid for service not yet delivered
Ten times as much paid in advance as two years ago.

Those customers arrive essentially free. Advertising expense was 3% of revenue in the first quarter of 2026, from 9% in 2023, and 83% of revenue from new customers came through organic channels3. Monthly paying customers passed 9 million in March 2026, from 3 million at the end of 20234, and more than 500 million people used something in the portfolio5.

The products themselves are not defensible and the company agrees. It concedes modest reliance on technical barriers to entry6 and says retention is not primarily driven by a scarcity of technically viable and lower-priced alternatives7. What keeps a ten-year Evernote user is a decade of notes, not a feature.

The evidence that this is a real moat is what the base absorbed. Evernote's annual personal price went from $70 to $1308 and its retention is 99%9; Harvest customers faced renewals reported at up to 1500% more10 and group retention still rose to 95% in 202511. That is pricing power, measured.

Scale and conversion both improved while the portfolio was being rebuilt. Monthly active users went from 111 million at the end of 2023 to more than 500 million in March 2026 and paying customers from 3 million to more than 9 million12, and the share of revenue from new customers arriving through organic channels rose from 79% to 83%13. Those are group figures, however, and the company publishes neither for any individual business.

It is narrow rather than wide because the leak is permanent. Retention has never reached 100%, so every base shrinks unless replaced, and the replacement is new purchases rather than new customers. Monthly paying customers is the measure that cannot be flattered by price: 9 million and rising says the franchise is intact, and a flat count alongside rising revenue would say the money is coming from charging the same people more.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Retention 94%, tenure 8.0 years, advertising spend still falling.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Monthly paying customers
More than 9 million in March 2026, from 3 million at end-2023

The count price cannot flatter; flat while revenue rises would mean growth is coming from charging the same people more.

Source: Bending Spoons Form 424B4 prospectus ↗
Aspects of the moat
DIG DEEPER 01
Twenty-Eight Percent Have Been Paying for a Decade
More than a quarter of Bending Spoons' subscription revenue comes from people who have been paying the same product for ten years, and not one of…
DIG DEEPER 02
Ninety-Four Percent Is a Leak, Not a Moat
Bending Spoons keeps 94 cents of every dollar an existing customer paid a year earlier, which is good for neglected consumer software and still means…
DIG DEEPER 03
Three Percent of Revenue on Advertising
Bending Spoons spends three percent of revenue on advertising because it only buys businesses whose customers arrive without being paid for.
DIG DEEPER 04
Five Hundred Million Users and What They Have Paid
Half a billion people use something Bending Spoons owns, nine million pay, and the $583 million they have paid in advance is the only backlog the…
⚠ Threats to the moat
⚠ THREAT 01
Twelve Percent of Revenue Depends on Tracking
Advertising went from a twentieth of revenue to an eighth in three years, in the same period the data it depends on started disappearing.
⚠ THREAT 02
Eventbrite Received Eighteen Hundred Claims
Five months after Bending Spoons bought Eventbrite, about 1,810 privacy claims and 500 arbitration demands had arrived over tracking pixels, and…
References
  1. ReportedIn the first quarter of 2026, 48% of subscription revenue came from customers with a tenure of at least five years, 28% from customers of at least ten years, and the revenue-weighted average subscriber tenure was 8.0 years.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on customer metrics: retention, tenure, users and acquisition channels. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedNet revenue retention was 95% in 2025 and 94% in the first quarter of 2026.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on customer metrics: retention, tenure, users and acquisition channels. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedAdvertising expense was 3% of revenue in the first quarter of 2026, from 9% in 2023, and 83% of revenue from new customers came through organic channels.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on customer metrics: retention, tenure, users and acquisition channels. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedMonthly paying customers passed 9 million in March 2026, from 3 million at the end of 2023, and more than 500 million people used something in the portfolio.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on customer metrics: retention, tenure, users and acquisition channels. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedMonthly paying customers passed 9 million in March 2026, from 3 million at the end of 2023, and more than 500 million people used something in the portfolio.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on customer metrics: retention, tenure, users and acquisition channels. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedIt concedes modest reliance on technical barriers to entry and says retention is not primarily driven by a scarcity of technically viable and lower-priced alternatives.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on the Platform: proprietary technologies, proprietary data and artificial intelligence. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedIt concedes modest reliance on technical barriers to entry and says retention is not primarily driven by a scarcity of technically viable and lower-priced alternatives.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on the Platform: proprietary technologies, proprietary data and artificial intelligence. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  8. ReportedEvernote's annual personal price went from $70 to $130 and its retention is 99%; Harvest customers faced renewals reported at up to 1500% more and group retention still rose to 95% in 2025.
    CNBC, Bending Spoons wants to revive software castoffs, and Berkshire is investing - the company's statement that it had not been outbid for a target in several years, the comparison with Thoma Bravo and Vista Equity Partners, Luca Ferrari on enterprise software valuations and on the share of revenue from professional businesses, the Evernote price history and Mizuho's and Nick Mehta's comments. — October 2026 · publ. 17 October 2026 · source ↗
  9. ReportedEvernote's annual personal price went from $70 to $130 and its retention is 99%; Harvest customers faced renewals reported at up to 1500% more and group retention still rose to 95% in 2025.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on customer metrics: retention, tenure, users and acquisition channels. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  10. Third-party estimateEvernote's annual personal price went from $70 to $130 and its retention is 99%; Harvest customers faced renewals reported at up to 1500% more and group retention still rose to 95% in 2025.
    Wikipedia, Bending Spoons - third-party account of the sellers of the pre-2023 businesses, the Harvest repricing reported by Bloomberg News in August 2026, the Playond subscription controversy and the Immuni contact-tracing app. — 2018-2026 · publ. October 2026 · source ↗
  11. ReportedEvernote's annual personal price went from $70 to $130 and its retention is 99%; Harvest customers faced renewals reported at up to 1500% more and group retention still rose to 95% in 2025.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on customer metrics: retention, tenure, users and acquisition channels. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  12. ReportedMonthly active users went from 111 million at the end of 2023 to more than 500 million in March 2026 and paying customers from 3 million to more than 9 million, and the share of revenue from new customers arriving through organic channels rose from 79% to 83%.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on customer metrics: retention, tenure, users and acquisition channels. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  13. ReportedMonthly active users went from 111 million at the end of 2023 to more than 500 million in March 2026 and paying customers from 3 million to more than 9 million, and the share of revenue from new customers arriving through organic channels rose from 79% to 83%.
    Bending Spoons S.p.A. Form 424B4, the final initial-public-offering prospectus dated 30 June 2026 - the master document, covering the business, the Playbook, the Platform, the audited financial statements for 2023-2025, the Q1 2026 interim, the acquisitions, customers, risk factors and legal proceedings - the Business section on customer metrics: retention, tenure, users and acquisition channels. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated October 20, 2026