AOL is part of a public company again. So is Eventbrite. And Vimeo. And a bunch of other legacy tech brands.

• Bending Spoons, an Italian holding company that buys and seeks to revitalize such businesses, raised $1.7 billion in its IPO and will list today on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol "BSP."
• It fetched $29 per share, versus a $26 to $28 per share offering range, which imputes an $18.4 billion valuation.

I spoke last night with Luca Ferrari, Bending Spoons' co-founder and CEO. What follows is an edited transcript of our conversation, which touched on strategy, future dealmaking, and the IPO.

Your IPO prospectus says that Bending Spoons has identified more than 1,000 acquisition targets, both public and private. What makes something a Bending Spoons target?

Ferrari: "It's a fairly broad net, but the first characteristic we look for is predictability. We want to feel confident that we know where the business is going, especially once integrated into our platform for a long time horizon, and also that we believe we can improve the business dramatically.

• The thesis of what we do is to integrate these companies very deeply onto our platform and rebuild them almost from the ground up. The technology, the product, the monetization and big parts of the team. If we don't see that we can make a big difference, we don't expect to be able to make an appealing offer."

Do you want companies that complement others in the portfolio?

"No, we're not thematic in that way and don't really cross-sell our products. We've done consumer businesses, SME businesses, enterprise businesses. Mostly subscriptions, but we've done a little bit of advertising revenue too."

What percentage of that 1,000 companies are actually buyable?

"Well, we couldn't buy all of them even if we wanted to. The biggest flaw or downside in our strategy is that these transformations are extremely time-consuming. We almost unsee a business and try to reimagine it — the most high-performance, most successful version of it — and then try to close the gap between the current state and that vision. It takes a lot of time and effort.

• If you look at our history, we've generally acquired four or five companies a year, with size increasing as we grow our top line... My guess is that over the next five or six years, 90% of those companies would be buyable if you make a good enough offer."

The founder letter in the S-1 mentions that Bending Spoons paid $10,000 for its very first acquisition. What was it and what's its current status?

"It was an iPhone app that would enable you to personalize your keyboard with different colors and shapes and different user experiences. Just baby steps for us at the beginning.

• We shut it down maybe six or seven years ago, because it was just too small and had only a few users. It's almost like a tennis player mentioning their first amateur match, in that it's meaningful not because of the match but because it's the first tiny step you take down the path."

What is going to be your message to the Bending Spoons team, to the rank and file, after the stock starts trading?

"It'll be a bit more articulate than this, but: I really believe that in so many ways we're just getting started. The vision we had for this business over a decade ago was to build one of the most remarkable, most important companies in the world. And if you look at what we've achieved through that lens, we've achieved very little.

• But we carry that spirit into this next chapter, along with better tools and better access to capital. We're excited to keep working."

Source: Giphy

Authentic Brands Group agreed to acquire Care Bears, which is expected to generate $750 million in 2026 retail sales, from Ivest Consumer Partners and Cloverlay.

Why it's the BFD: I'm a sucker for 1980s icons.

Catch up quick: Ivest and Cloverlay bought the parent company of Care Bears and Holly Hobbie in 2023 for around $100 million.

• Authentic Brands shareholders include CVC Capital Partners, General Atlantic, HPS Investment Partners, and Leonard Green & Partners. It's said to be prepping for an IPO.

The bottom line: "The sale expands Authentic's reach into family entertainment and marks its first character-based franchise." — Brent Lang, Variety

• Etched, a San Jose, Calif.-based developer of frontier inference clusters, came out of stealth with $800m raised over multiple rounds — including $500m late last year at a $5b post-money valuation. Backers include VentureTech Alliance, Peter Thiel, Jane Street, Two Sigma, Stripes, Andrej Karpathy, Geoffrey Hinton, and Fei-Fei Li. axios.link/4wjnLFY

• Together AI, an AI-native cloud, raised $800m at an $8.3b post-money valuation. Aramco Ventures led, joined by Vista Equity Partners, General Catalyst, Emergence Capital, Nvidia, March Capital, Pegatron, and S Ventures. axios.link/3QWFhk2

• InKind, an Austin, Texas-based restaurant commerce enablement platform, raised more than $320m from Liberty Mutual Investments. axios.link/4ggJw4s

🚑 Beeline Medicines, a Boston-based precision immunology startup, raised $126m in Series A extension funding from insiders Bain Capital and CPPIB. axios.link/4vES8Xv

• Dominion Dynamics, a Canadian developer of an Arctic surveillance network and drone systems, raised C$139m in Series A funding. Georgian led, joined by Valor Equity Partners, Expeditions, Lakestar, OMERS, BDC, RBC, Deloitte Ventures, JDY Capital and insiders BCI, Bessemer Venture Partners, Garage Capital, Golden Ventures and Silent Ventures. axios.link/4p0JHmK

🥍 Premier Lacrosse League raised $100m in Series E funding. Ares Management and Joe Tsai led, joined by Rob Mac and Glen Powell. axios.link/4eTnItp

• TwelveLabs, an SF-based video intelligence company, raised $100m in Series B funding. NEA and Naver Ventures led, joined by Amazon, Radical Ventures, Korea Investment Partners, Index Ventures, Quadrille Capital, and Red Bull Ventures. axios.link/4gKkfzK

• Higharc, a Durham, N.C.-based cloud platform for homebuilding, raised $95m in Series C funding. Insight Partners led, joined by Wellington Management, Fifth Wall, Spark Capital, Lux Capital, and SE Ventures. axios.link/3R9aTmM

• Aligned, a B2B sales workspace with offices in NYC and Israel, raised $60m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro. PeakSpan Capital led, joined by insiders Hetz Ventures, JAL Ventures and NFXT. axios.link/4eFCqFl

• MDOTM, a provider of professional investment management tech, raised $27m led by Expedition Growth Capital. axios.link/4gxJMwb

• Build, an infrastructure due diligence platform, raised $8.5m in seed funding. Index Ventures led, joined by Pebblebed, Puzzle Ventures and Tiny vc, Sarah Friar, and John Stecher. axios.link/4y28zPe

• Arcturus, an LA-based carbon materials company, raised $8m in seed funding. Initialized Capital led, joined by 1517, Breakthrough Energy Discovery, Toyota Ventures, and Wireframe Ventures. axios.link/4eOFGNw

• Hypefy AI, a Croatia-founded influencer marketing platform, raised $7.2m in Series A funding. AYMO Ventures led, joined by insiders Interactive Venture Partners, Oktogon Ventures, and Euroventures. axios.link/3Rbia5u

• Acti, an agentic keyboard developer, raised $5.3m in seed funding led by Bitkraft Ventures. axios.link/4xZkWLF

• Dawnguard, a cloud cybersecurity startup, raised $3.3m in pre-seed funding from BNVT Capital, Curiosity VC, and eCapital. axios.link/4vbkzeh

• Digiclean, a Swedish industrial cleaning and maintenance optimization startup, raised €2.5m in seed funding led by Unconventional Ventures and Almi Invest GreenTech. axios.link/3T9DngG

• EquiLibre, a Prague-based developer of AI agents for Nasdaq trading, raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by Creandum at a valuation north of $500m. axios.link/4eGDdpK

• Wayve, a U.K.-based autonomous car company, launched an employee tender at an $8.5b valuation. It recently raised $1.5b in Series D funding led by Eclipse, Balderton, and SoftBank. axios.link/3QKD6Af

• Acon Investments acquired YumEarth, a Stamford, Conn.-based maker of organic and allergen-free candies, from The Riverside Company. axios.link/4wdUNXS

• Adenia Partners acquired a majority stake in Minet Group, a South African insurance brokerage and risk advisory, from Capitalworks. axios.link/4wq4y5v

• Arcline Investment Management agreed to acquire Avantus, a U.K. provider of engineered shims and fasteners for aerospace and defense, from Inflexion. axios.link/4vIykCx

🚑 Avista Healthcare Partners and Damier Group completed their buyout of Sanotact, a German vitamins and supplements distributor. axios.link/4dGquS6

⚡ Enverus, a Blackstone portfolio company, acquired four exchange platforms from PDS Energy Information. axios.link/4f9IMwS

⚡ FPE Capital invested in BMA, a U.K. provider of decision intelligence software for utilities and infrastructure companies. axios.link/4y0DxXP

⚡ New Mountain Capital acquired SAM Cos., an Austin, Texas-based provider of geospatial and inspection services to utility and infrastructure customers, from Peak Rock Capital. axios.link/4whzO6t

• Partners Group invested $250m into Avenue Capital Group's commercial aviation leasing portfolio. axios.link/4ycS1nI

• Perpetual (ASX: PPT), a Sydney-based asset manager, rejected an A$2.5b buyout offer from EQT. axios.link/4eJhsEc

• PestCo, a Thompson Street Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired Morganville, N.J.-based Arrow Pest Control. axios.link/3QAf1Mu

• SummitIG, a SDC Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired Dark Fiber & Infrastructure, a dark fiber infrastructure provider in Virginia, from Blue Owl Capital. axios.link/4wan5lW

• Lime, the micro-mobility company partially owned by Uber, raised $167m in its IPO. It priced in the middle of its $24-$26, for a $1.8b fully diluted value, and will list on the Nasdaq (LIME). It's raised over $900m in VC funding, from firms like a16z, Bain Capital Ventures, Coatue, and GV. Its peak valuation was $2.4b in 2019.

• CopperTech Metals, a Zambia-focused copper miner being spun out of India's Vedanta Resources, postponed a U.S. IPO that had been expected to raise around $400m at a $3.4b valuation. axios.link/4eFCG7h

• Dien May, a Vietnamese electronics retailer, raised $505m in its domestic IPO. axios.link/4v5tFcw

• ITG, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based telecom services provider owned by Oaktree Capital Management, raised $312m in its IPO. It priced at $16 (below $19-$22 range), and will list on the Nasdaq (ITG). axios.link/4g06pJk

• Osprey Acquisition III, a SPAC targeting energy and energy infrastructure, raised $261m in its IPO. axios.link/4oywFg2

🐶 Coles Group (ASX: COL) reportedly is in talks to buy Greencross Pet Wellness, an Australian pet retailer and vet business, from TPG for up to A$4b. axios.link/3QWsG0e

• Schneider Electric (Paris: SU) agreed to acquire Cognite, a Norwegian provider of industrial data and AI software, for $3.1b in cash. Cognite backers include Aramco, Accel, and TCV. axios.link/4aoK9Fq

• Alcoa (NYSE: AA) will pay up to $5.6b to acquire South32's (ASX: S32) bauxite, alumina and aluminum assets in Australia, Brazil and South Africa. axios.link/4whF0qS

🚑 BridgeBio Pharma (Nasdaq: BBIO) secured up to $1b in convertible preferred equity investment from Sixth Street and KKR-backed HealthCare Royalty. axios.link/4eUd0ms

• Cambridge Future Tech, a U.K. deep-tech venture studio, acquired California-based Vest Coast Capital. camfuturetech.com

• Deutsche Bank sold its India retail, private banking, and wealth management unit to Kotak ​Mahindra Bank for around $30m. axios.link/4fd7Xyw

• FedEx (NYSE: FDX) agreed to sell is supply chain logistics unit for $1.4b to France's CMA CGM Group. axios.link/4vJK4oi

• Kroger (NYSE: KR) agreed to buy Cranberry, Pa.-based food and pharmacy retailer Giant Eagle for $1.65b. axios.link/4eDrWX4

• Getty Images (NYSE: GETY) is scrapping its $3.7b agreement to buy rival stock images provider Shutterstock (NYSE: SSTK), after U.K. antitrust regulators insisted that Getty divest its editorial business. axios.link/3SCYFDo

⚡ National Grid (LSE: NG) is investing $1.75b for a 35% stake in Joulent, a U.S. power generation company that has contracts for Microsoft data centers. axios.link/44E42om

• QXO (NYSE: QXO) completed its $17b cash-and-stock acquisition of insulation company TopBuild, and also said that Jared Kushner would leave its board of directors. axios.link/442I12z

• Behrman Capital raised a $250m single-asset CV for Shurco, a provider of cargo covering and control systems. axios.link/4eY82VJ

🎵 Firebird launched as a music catalog acquisition platform with "more than $750m in purchasing power," backed by Ares and The Raine Group. axios.link/4whHA02

• Flexpoint Ford raised a $460m single-asset CV for SageSure, a managing general underwriter specializing in catastrophe-exposed markets. axios.link/3RfbtiR

• Hamilton Lane raised $3.8b for its sixth direct PE fund. axios.link/4gKmiDW

• Ruya Ventures, a deep-tech pre-seed firm formed by Rick Hao, raised $50m for its debut fund. ruya.ventures

• Tapestry VC, a London and SF-based VC fund focused on immigrant founders, raised $80m for its third fund. axios.link/4v06FeZ

• Ashton Kutcher is leaving Sound Ventures, which he co-founded in 2015 with Guy Oseary, to launch a new VC firm with former NFX partner Morgan Beller. axios.link/3Rd0uq7

• Tak Ishikawa, formerly of Mitsubishi, is joining KPS Capital Partners as president of its new KPS Asia unit. axios.link/4fd6KHy

The "central bank for central banks" is warning that today's AI buildout is reminiscent of prior booms and busts, Axios' Courtenay Brown reports.

• The risk is that AI follows the same pattern at a moment when the global economy is unusually reliant on a single investment boom to keep the expansion on track.