InvestWidely confirmed6 publishers3 min readPublished Updated
Airtable and Miro's own balance sheets fund a third of what Bending Spoons agreed to pay
Bending Spoons has bought two of the decade's better-known B2B software brands inside about a month, and in both the cash the companies had banked went back to sellers at face value while the growth rate moved the price.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Bending Spoons agreed to buy Miro at a $1.355bn enterprise value about five weeks after announcing Airtable at $1.285bn, and the Airtable purchase has already closed.
- The two companies held about $1.4bn of cash between them against roughly $4bn of combined equity value, so a third of what changed hands was money they already had.
- Bending Spoons' Airtable release put ARR at approximately $480m as of June 2026, growing more than 20% year over year.
- The Miro release gave ARR of around $600m with nearly 90% of it from business and enterprise customers, and no growth rate at all.
- Miro raised $476m in total across fourteen years and, according to TechCrunch, is still profitable, with about $435m of net cash.
Why it matters
- cost Every dollar the two companies banked instead of spending was returned at par, so the cost of holding it lands on the pre-close cap table as forgone multiple.
- decision A founder weighing whether to deploy the last few hundred million or keep it now has two prices for that choice: banked money sells at face value, and only the growth it funds gets repriced.
- capability Bending Spoons can absorb two flagship brands about a month apart because a third of the headline value returns to it at closing, which lowers the outside funding either deal requires.
- precedent The next mature B2B seller in this band should expect its price argued from the growth rate, with the balance sheet counted at par and the product roadmap carrying little of the number.
Add the two enterprise values and Bending Spoons is committing $2.64bn [23] for about $1.08bn of combined ARR [24], which is 2.44 times recurring revenue [25]. The cash inside that price splits 43% for Airtable and 24% for Miro, $965m and $435m [5][6]. Both amounts come back at par: SaaStr's point is that the buyer pays enterprise value and the bank account goes to the sellers at 1.0x, while Airtable's ARR fetched 2.7x and Miro's about 2.3x [8].
Forty basis points separate the two multiples, and SaaStr puts public comps in that growth band at around 2x [10]. Its reference point for a company growing 60% is 8x to 10x [11]. On the combined $1.08bn of ARR, the distance between what Bending Spoons agreed to pay and 8x is about $6bn of enterprise value [26].
Miro's release describes a wide base and a thin one at the same time: about 100 million total users against 4 million paying, roughly 4% conversion, and about $150 per paying user per year [9], with more than 750 accounts above $100K of ARR sitting on top [4]. On growth, the only figure in public is Sacra's estimate of roughly $420m of 2022 revenue, which would put the four years since in the high single digits annually, and Miro has never published a number of its own [27].
Airtable was mid-rebuild when it sold. Howie Liu declared a refounding in June 2025 and shipped Omni as a conversational front door and Field Agents as the execution layer [16]; the DeepSky acquisition in October 2025 brought in David Azose, who had led engineering for ChatGPT's business products at OpenAI, as CTO [17]; Superagent arrived in January 2026, the company's first standalone product in thirteen years [18]. It cleared at 2.7 times ARR [8].
Where the money did show up is on the other side of the cap table. Miro raised $476m across fourteen years and sold at roughly $1.79bn of equity value, about 3.8 times the capital it took in [21]. Airtable raised roughly $1.4bn and sold at roughly $2.25bn, about 1.6 times [22]. The two companies cleared at nearly the same multiple of revenue and very different multiples of capital raised, and SaaStr's account gives no preference stack for either, so what founders and employees received per share is not in evidence.
One figure does not reconcile. Liu said in January that Airtable was generating cash with roughly half its raised capital still in the bank [19], and $965m of net cash against roughly $1.4bn raised is closer to seven tenths [20]. What would break the reading that the growth rate set both prices is a Miro growth rate well above the high single digits Sacra's 2022 number implies. Bending Spoons' release did not carry one [3].
What to watch
- Whether the Q4 Miro close puts any growth rate on the record, from Bending Spoons or from Miro.
- A third Bending Spoons purchase inside a quarter, and whether it also prices under 3x ARR.
- Whether Airtable's Omni and Superagent line keeps shipping under rollup ownership.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence66
- Adoption52
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives58
- Confidence63
Perspective Coverage
6 publishers- Builder
- Builder 10%
- Operator
- Operator 38%
- Investor
- Investor 52%
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
Bending Spoons, a Milan-based rollup, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Miro at a $1.355 billion enterprise value; five weeks earlier it announced Airtable at a $1.285 billion enterprise value, and the Airtable deal has closed.
- [2]
The Miro deal is expected to close in Q4.
- [3]
The Miro release gave ARR of around $600 million, nearly 90% of it from business and enterprise customers, and no growth rate.
- [4]
The Miro release gave a paying user count of nearly 4 million and more than 750 customers over $100K in ARR.
- [5]
Airtable's equity value was roughly $2.25 billion and its enterprise value was $1.285 billion; the difference is $965 million of cash, 43% of the price.
- [6]
Miro's equity value is roughly $1.79 billion and its enterprise value is $1.355 billion; the difference is $435 million of cash, 24% of the price.
- [7]
The two balance sheets held about $1.4 billion between them against roughly $4 billion of combined equity value, so a third of what changed hands in the two deals was money the companies already had.
- [8]
Buyers pay enterprise value and hand back the seller's cash at face value, so cash is worth 1.0x; Airtable's ARR was worth 2.7x and Miro's is worth about 2.3x, according to SaaStr.
- [9]
Miro has about 100 million total users and 4 million paying, roughly 4% conversion, and $600 million across 4 million paying users works out to about $150 per paying user per year.
- [10]
The two deals cleared within 40 basis points of each other on the multiple, and public comps in that growth band trade around 2x.
- [11]
In a company growing 60%, ARR might be worth 8x or 10x, according to SaaStr.
- [12]
Miro told the press it was profitable when it announced a $400 million Series C at a $17.5 billion valuation in January 2022, and that it had been profitable and growing 3x before the pandemic.
- [13]
Miro raised $476 million in total across fourteen years, and TechCrunch reports it is still profitable today, with about $435 million in net cash.
ReportedSupportedSource: TechCrunch, via saastr.com2 sources— create a free account to open themView cited source - [14]
Airtable raised roughly $1.4 billion.
- [15]
Bending Spoons' Airtable release said ARR was growing over 20% year over year to approximately $480 million as of June 2026.
- [16]
Howie Liu declared a refounding in June 2025 and shipped Omni as a conversational front door and Field Agents as the execution layer.
- [17]
Airtable's DeepSky acquisition in October 2025 brought in David Azose, who had led engineering for ChatGPT's business products at OpenAI, as CTO.
- [18]
Airtable shipped Superagent in January 2026, the company's first standalone product in thirteen years.
- [19]
By Howie Liu's own January account, Airtable was generating cash with roughly half its raised capital still in the bank.
- [20]
Airtable's $965 million of net cash is about 69% of the roughly $1.4 billion it raised.
- [21]
Miro's roughly $1.79 billion equity value is about 3.8 times the $476 million it raised.
- [22]
Airtable's roughly $2.25 billion equity value is about 1.6 times the roughly $1.4 billion it raised.
- [23]
The two enterprise values sum to $2.64 billion.
- [24]
Combined ARR across the two companies is about $1.08 billion.
- [25]
The two deals together price combined ARR at about 2.44 times enterprise value.
- [26]
At 8x, $1.08 billion of combined ARR would carry about $8.64 billion of enterprise value, roughly $6 billion above the $2.64 billion agreed.
- [27]
Sacra pegged Miro at roughly $420 million in 2022 revenue, which would put the last four years in the high single digits annually; that is a third-party estimate and Miro has never published a figure of its own.
Sources
6 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- eu-startups.comBending Spoons enters definitive agreement to acquire AI innovation workspace Miro for €1.7 billion | EU-Startups
1 article · September 10, 2026
- morningstar.comBending Spoons to Buy Miro for $1.36 Billion | Morningstar
1 article · September 10, 2026
- pymnts.comBending Spoons Pays $1.4 Billion for Collaboration Firm Miro
2 articles · September 10, 2026
- saastr.comOne Thing Miro + Airtable Show: Getting Cash Flow Positive Isn’t Magical
1 article · September 11, 2026
- sifted.euBending Spoons to buy Amsterdam-based Miro in $1.36bn deal
1 article · September 10, 2026
- techfundingnews.comBending Spoons buys Miro for $1.79B, its second markdown deal in five weeks — TFN
1 article · September 11, 2026
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