AI-generated analysis, not investment advice. The articles are written by AI, edited, and checked against company filings — but the judgements are opinions and the figures go stale. How this is made · Terms

Ninety-Four Percent Is a Leak, Not a MoatNarrow moat

Bending Spoons (BSP) — moat facet

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 the base leaks.

Net revenue retention is the single figure that tests whether these customer bases hold, and Bending Spoons publishes it: 93% in 2023, 91% in 2024, 95% in 2025 and 94% in the first quarter of 20261.

Net revenue retention (%)93%202391%202495%202594%Q1 2026Bending Spoons Form 424B4; below 100% means the existing base pays less each year
Never above a hundred.

Read it plainly. A figure below 100% means that the cohort of customers the company had a year ago is paying less this year than last, after price rises and after upgrades. The base does not expand by itself; it leaks, and new customers fill the gap. Software companies that report retention above 100% are describing the opposite situation, in which existing customers spend more each year without the company finding anyone new.

That said, 94% on a portfolio of mature consumer applications bought because they were neglected is a good number, and it was achieved while prices were rising sharply at Evernote2 and Harvest3. The company's own caution is that a business's net revenue retention can fluctuate significantly over time, often as a result of monetization initiatives4.

By business the spread is wide: Evernote 99%, AOL 95%, StreamYard 91% and Remini 87%, averaged from the first quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 20265. Those are the only four disclosed, and they were presumably chosen as representative rather than at random.

The base it is measured on keeps changing, which flatters nothing but complicates everything. The 95% recorded for 20256 covers a year in which Brightcove, komoot, MileIQ, Harvest and Vimeo all arrived7, each bringing its own customers and its own history. Evernote alone brought more than 200 million created accounts and an average customer tenure of 7.2 years when it was bought8.

So this is a real but modest moat: customers who mostly stay, in products that would be cheap to replicate, holding through price increases that would have cost a weaker franchise more. The number to watch is simply this one each quarter. Retention falling back toward the 91% of 2024 while prices keep rising would say Bending Spoons has found the edge of what the base will absorb.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Retention 91% to 95% across four years, through large price rises.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Net revenue retention, latest quarter
94% in Q1 2026, against 95% in 2025

Whether the inherited bases hold through repricing; a fall toward 91% would mark the limit of what customers absorb.

Source: Bending Spoons Form 424B4 prospectus ↗
⚠ Threats to the moat
⚠ THREAT 01
Retention Moves With the Price
The metric that proves Bending Spoons keeps its customers is one the company says moves with its own price rises, and it measures revenue rather than…
References
  1. ReportedNet revenue retention is the single figure that tests whether these customer bases hold, and Bending Spoons publishes it: 93% in 2023, 91% in 2024, 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 ↗
  2. ReportedThat said, 94% on a portfolio of mature consumer applications bought because they were neglected is a good number, and it was achieved while prices were rising sharply at Evernote and Harvest.
    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 ↗
  3. Third-party estimateThat said, 94% on a portfolio of mature consumer applications bought because they were neglected is a good number, and it was achieved while prices were rising sharply at Evernote and Harvest.
    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 ↗
  4. ReportedThe company's own caution is that a business's net revenue retention can fluctuate significantly over time, often as a result of monetization initiatives.
    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 transformation of individual acquired businesses. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedBy business the spread is wide: Evernote 99%, AOL 95%, StreamYard 91% and Remini 87%, averaged from the first quarter of 2023 to 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 audited consolidated financial statements, the Q1 2026 interim and the MD&A on results of operations and tax. — FY2023-Q1 2026 · publ. 1 July 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedThe 95% recorded for 2025 covers a year in which Brightcove, komoot, MileIQ, Harvest and Vimeo all arrived, each bringing its own customers and its own history.
    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 ↗
  7. ReportedThe 95% recorded for 2025 covers a year in which Brightcove, komoot, MileIQ, Harvest and Vimeo all arrived, each bringing its own customers and its own history.
    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 ↗
  8. ReportedEvernote alone brought more than 200 million created accounts and an average customer tenure of 7.2 years when it was bought.
    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