Earlier this year, shares of traditional SaaS companies tumbled as investors panicked that AI-powered software might render them obsolete. But Bending Spoons, the Milan-based company that buys and revitalizes fading tech brands, apparently didn't get the memo. Its shares closed at $40.50 on Wednesday, nearly 40% above the $29 IPO price, giving the 13-year-old company a market cap of $25.7 billion - more than double its last private valuation of $11 billion. The offering raised $1.68 billion.

Bending Spoons has made a name for itself by acquiring aging but once-popular brands like AOL, Eventbrite, Evernote, Meetup, and Vimeo, then turning them profitable through aggressive cost-cutting, new features, and price hikes. Unlike private equity, however, the company has no plans to sell these businesses. And the strategy seems to be working: Q1 revenue hit $601 million with net income of $27.4 million - a sharp turnaround from the same period last year, when the company reported a $112 million net loss on $259 million in revenue. Subscriptions accounted for 84% of business last year.

Before the IPO, Baillie Gifford was the largest outside shareholder, followed by Renaissance Partners, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price. The five co-founders - Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella, and Tomasz Greber - also stand to benefit handsomely. Bending Spoons isn't alone in this strategy; other firms like Constellation Software, Curious, Tiny, saas.group, Arising Ventures, and Calm Capital also acquire and hold "venture zombie" companies. But none of them have a name inspired by a scene from 'The Matrix.'