Italy's Bending Spoons buys file sharing service WeTransfer

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian app developer Bending Spoons has bought file-sharing platform WeTransfer, the companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday, as the Milan-based tech company presses ahead with a string of deals for software firms.

The deal, for which financial details were not disclosed, is the fifth acquisition this year by Bending Spoons, which in February raised $155 million through a capital increase, taking the company's valuation to $2.55 billion.

The owner of WeTransfer, which was founded in 2009 in the Netherlands, sought an initial public offering in Amsterdam with a targeted valuation of up to 716 million euros in 2022, but the plan was scrapped due to market volatility, it said at the time.

The WeTransfer service enables its users to transfer large files online. It has 600,000 subscribers and 80 million monthly active users, according to data included in the statement.

Earlier in July Bending Spoons snapped up digital publishing platform Issuu, which converts documents, like print magazines and books, into digital publications which can be flipped through online.

That followed the buyout of live streaming app StreamYard in May and earlier in the year the purchase of the digital assets of Mosaic Group and Meetup, a social network with 60 million members worldwide used to organise in-person and virtual events and gatherings.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Keith Weir)