Bending Spoons has agreed to buy Airtable for $1.28 billion in cash, according to TechCrunch. The deal values the no-code platform at a fraction of its 2021 peak: an 88% decline from the $11 billion valuation at its height.
Airtable was once the emblem of the no-code boom—a venture capital favorite that promised to democratize data management for organizations worldwide. Founded in 2013, the company had raised over $1.4 billion across multiple rounds and claimed to serve over 500,000 organizations, including 80% of the Fortune 100.
The descent has been steep. Earlier this year, Airtable's shares were trading on secondary markets at $4 billion. With its net cash position included, the deal values the company at approximately $2.25 billion, according to TechCrunch. For investors who backed the company at its peak, the loss is substantial.
Bending Spoons itself went public last month at an $18 billion valuation, and this is its first major acquisition as a public company. The Italian software conglomerate has built a reputation for buying distressed assets—Evernote, WeTransfer, EventBrite, Vimeo—cutting costs, eliminating features, and forcing profitability.
Airtable's annual recurring revenue reached approximately $480 million, growing 20% year-over-year as of June 2026. The company is profitable by those metrics. In January, it launched Superagent, an AI orchestration platform, as a move toward artificial intelligence. Neither step was enough to attract a higher bidder.
The deal reflects a shift in how the market values startups. Airtable's collapse from $11 billion to $1.28 billion over five years signals that investors are now asking whether companies can generate sustained profit. For founders and investors still holding 2021 valuations, the gap has become impossible to ignore. For Bending Spoons, acquisitions at distressed valuations are routine.