https://www.macbartender.com/b5blog/A-New-Chapter-for-Barten... https://surteesstudios.com/a-new-chapter/
Had this come out then, I'd be worried. But given how it went now, I'm super worried.
As you said, I don't think knowing that Applause (applause.dev) is the acquiring company helps much considering they have no track record of anything as far as I can see, but having a full day of radio silence must have done some considerable damage.
Surtees had a bunch of accumulated trust from having been maintaining Bartender for over a decade and not having done anything abusive with it in that time. A new developer is starting from scratch there, and the first impression being that they're trying to avoid people knowing about them doesn't make us jump to trusting them. (That's why people are being more inclined to trust random apps from unknowns like Hidden Bar or Ice...)