Renzo Rosso’s Red Circle Investments Takes Stake in Bending Spoons
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MILAN — Renzo Rosso‘s privately held Red Circle Investments continues to diversify and to see opportunities in innovative companies and start-ups with high potential. With an eye on technology, the firm has taken an undisclosed stake in Bending Spoons, which develops mobile applications.
Founded in 2013 in Copenhagen, Bending Spoons moved its headquarters to Milan in 2015. It is a leading technology company that has developed 20 apps, and counts more than 60 million active users and more than 400 million downloads. For the third consecutive year, it has garnered the top spot in the ranking of Best Workplaces for Millennials, published by Great Place to Work.
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The company is known primarily for iOS mobile apps, including Splice, 30 Day Fitness and Live Quiz. Last year, the Italian government revealed that Bending Spoons had been selected to design and develop Italy’s official COVID-19 contact tracing app, Immuni, released in June 2020. Financial details of the investment were not revealed.
“Ever since my first investments in the sector with Yoox, H-Farm and Depop, I was confirmed that to believe in innovation, in digital and in the young generation is a guarantee for success,” said Rosso, president of Red Circle Investments. “You learn new things and you change the way you do them. The world of applications is fascinating and in constant evolution: every app is a modern enterprise that stems from the solution of a problem and that is quickly perceived, especially by young people. I am very proud to be part of Bending Spoons and I am sure that we will write the future together.”
In a 2019 interview with Forbes, Bending Spoons co-founder Luca Ferrari stated that the name of the company derived from the movie “The Matrix.”
“We loved it immediately because it captured some big ideas we believed in — and still believe in,” said Ferrari. “These are the power of the mind to do what seems impossible, like bending spoons with your thoughts, and the value of persevering to achieve those goals.”
Red Circle investments include stakes in Iconiq Capital, which invests in the technological sector; in the tech-med industry with Colmmune and Techwald, but is also active in a range of other sectors, including eyewear with stakes in Retrosuperfuture and Marcolin. It also has shares in food-tech company Cortilia; in Planet Farms, a company operating Europe’s largest vertical farm, and in high-end wine company Masi Agricoltura.
Separately, Rosso is the founder of OTB, which controls brands ranging from Diesel and Maison Margiela to Jil Sander and Marni.
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