Airtable, the no-code database and workflow platform, has been acquired by Bending Spoons — the Italian app-consolidation company that recently completed its own IPO — in an all-cash deal that closed the week of September 8, 2026. The deal values Airtable at roughly $1.285B in enterprise value, with an estimated equity value around $2.25B. That's a steep down-round from the company's $11.7B peak at its December 2021 Series F, reflecting years of headcount reductions and slowing growth since.
The numbers
An 80% decline from peak valuation is severe, but the more important number for employees isn't the percentage drop — it's where the current $2.25B equity value lands relative to individual strike prices. Options granted in 2020 or earlier, when the company was valued in the low billions or less, are very likely still meaningfully in the money at this price. Options granted during or after the 2021 Series F peak, when strike prices were set against an $11.7B valuation, are very likely underwater and will expire worthless unless there's a specific provision addressing them in the deal terms.
What changed
This acquisition caps a multi-year story of Airtable scaling back after its 2021 peak — multiple rounds of layoffs and a cooling growth rate as no-code and low-code tools faced both a tougher enterprise software market and, more recently, competitive pressure from AI-native workflow tools. Bending Spoons, fresh off its own public listing, has built a strategy of acquiring and operating consumer and productivity software businesses; Airtable becomes part of that portfolio rather than continuing as an independent company chasing its own IPO.
What this means for employees
An all-cash acquisition is, in one specific way, the best possible outcome after a down-round scenario: it converts illiquid paper into an actual bank-account event, on a fixed timeline, rather than leaving employees waiting indefinitely for a tender offer or IPO that may never come. If your options are in the money at the deal price, expect a cash payout net of your strike price and applicable withholding, typically within a defined window after closing. If your options are underwater at this price, they will most likely be cancelled for no consideration — confirm the exact treatment with equity administration, since some deals include partial consideration or acceleration provisions for underwater grants, though many do not.
If you hold Airtable equity, check your strike price against the deal's per-share consideration immediately — equity administration should be able to tell you your exact payout (or confirm cancellation) before closing finalizes. Run the calculator with your grant details to sanity-check what you're owed.