This is what capitulation looks like: Airtable, a maker of workflow software, is being sold for just 10% of its peak valuation.
It’s a sign that some companies hit hard by the SaaS selloff (or their venture-capital backers, as Airtable is still privately held) are bowing to reality and taking whatever money is available.
But it’s one thing to swallow a final down-round, and another to be acquired by a company whose business model is creating an island for misfit tech toys.
Bending Spoons buys software companies past their prime, like AOL and Vimeo, and aggressively cuts costs.
It’s a tough landing place for a once fast-growing SaaS darling.
The question now is whether the reality check will spread to larger companies and private-equity firms that would be eager to own software firms trading at beaten-down prices.