Francesco Patarnello

Source of wealth: Software investment

40 years male Technology 🇮🇹 IT

Net Worth

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Earnings per second

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The scale of their wealth

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Health

The price of life

Let's compare Francesco Patarnello's fortune with the healthcare spending of a massive country

Francesco Patarnello could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo, with a population of over 105,800,000 people, for approximately 0.6 years.

But even if we compare their fortune with that of a rich country

On the other end, Francesco Patarnello could cover the healthcare spending of Luxembourg, considered the most heavily funded healthcare system in the world, for 0.3 years.

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Education

Buying the future

Let's also compare their fortune with education spending, first with a poor country

Francesco Patarnello could cover the total cost of Nigeria's education system, the most populous country in Africa with over 243,000,000 inhabitants, for 0.4 years.

And yes, we can also compare it with a rich country

But they couldn't just cover the cost of a poor country; Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, and Francesco Patarnello could pay for it entirely for 0.5 years.

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Research

The monopoly on progress

Coming full circle, we think it's also interesting to add another gigantic country

Francesco Patarnello could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with over 260,000,000 inhabitants, for 2.2 years.

And of course, the country that invests the most per capita worldwide

But even if we compare the total wealth of Francesco Patarnello with Israel, the country that invests the most per capita in research in the world, they could cover the total cost of the system for 0.0 years.

While billions of people struggle to access basic healthcare, education, and research, a single individual could fund entire national systems for centuries.

Gold

Everyday luxuries

Francesco Patarnello's fortune is equivalent to 9 tons of gold. It's hard to process, since we don't usually keep a handful of gold bars in our piggy banks.

A standard gold ring usually weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18 karats.

Based on today's gold price (excluding the jeweler's commission, shipping, or anything else), that ring would be worth $546.86.

Francesco Patarnello could buy 2,377,223 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and way too many gifts!!

And if you're struggling to visualize that many rings, it would take 0 trucks to transport them. Although Francesco Patarnello will almost certainly have enough money left over to pay for the gas.

Biography

Francesco Patarnello cofounded Italian app developer Bending Spoons in 2013 with his three cofounders Luca Ferrari, Matteo Danieli and Luca Querella.

The four friends launched Bending Spoons after working together on an unsuccessful, earlier startup Evertale, a note-taking app.

The Bending Spoons cofounders met while studying in Copenhagen, Denmark, and would later relocate to Milan, Italy, as their new startup took off.

The Milan, Italy-based startup struck on the strategy of buying apps and companies with a loyal audience where it sees the potential to overhaul its features and pricing.

Bending Spoons was largely bootstrapped until it raised its first major funding round in 2022 and made its first takeover of Evernote in 2023.

The company last raised $270 on a $11 billion in October 2025 to help fund its takeover of AOL and Vimeo. Bending Spoons is now Italy's most valuable startup and has bought, or taken private, a string of apps and startups like Meetup, Eventbrite, and WeTransfer.