Bumble files for IPO – CNN

Bumble files for IPO – CNN

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The company filed the paperwork on Friday for an initial public offering, potentially setting it up for a Wall Street debut at a time when dating apps became the lifeline for single people during the pandemic.

The company said it generated $ 376.6 million in revenue between January 29 and September 30 last year. During the same period, the company recorded a net loss of $ 84.1 million.

Bumble was founded in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd, who started his career at Tinder. She initially planned to create a social network geared towards women before coming to the concept of a dating app geared towards women. Bumble requires women looking for heterosexual couples to take the first step, the idea that this feature would enable women to make their own choices. He took off: Austin-based Bumble has become a household name and now includes services in addition to dating, including professional networking (Bumble Bizz) and meeting new friends (Bumble BFF).

According to its IPO paperwork, the Bumble dating empire had 42.1 million monthly active users at the end of September.

She sued Tinder, founded Bumble and now, at 30, is CEO of a $ 3 billion dating empire

“We remain committed to the great opportunity that lies ahead of making dating healthier and fairer around the world, not just for women, but for people across the gender spectrum,” wrote Wolfe Herd in a letter that accompanies the IPO documentation.

Bumble is about to go public in the wake of other successful technology IPOs. Airbnb and DoorDash soared in their recent public debut, suggesting strong investor interest.

Unlike many other technology companies, the majority of Bumble’s board of directors is made up of women. At 31, Wolfe Herd will become one of the youngest tech CEOs to go public. Katrina Lake, founder and CEO of Stitch Fix, was the youngest female technology CEO to do so in 2017, when she was 34.

Investment firm Blackstone bought a majority stake in Bumble’s parent company – then called MagicLab, but has since been renamed Bumble – from Russian billionaire Andrey Andreev in 2019. The parent company also includes Badoo, a popular dating service digital outside the United States, founded by Andreev in 2006.

Andreev has served as Wolfe Herd’s partner since the beginning of Bumble. As part of the deal, Andreev sold his stake and left the deal; Wolfe Herd took charge. The Blackstone deal valued Bumble, the parent company, at $ 3 billion.

The online dating space is packed with competing apps like Tinder, Hinge, Match and OKCupid, all owned by Match Group. But Wolfe Herd has been working to differentiate his company – from publicly criticizing and blocking a misogynist user to banning photos with firearms and flagging obscene images sent by direct messages in his app. She also used her profile to discuss issues related to women and the digital world. In 2019, she and Bumble successfully defended a new Texas law banning digital sexual harassment.

“Our long-term vision is to be the platform to meet new people, no matter what you are looking for, in any stage of life or situation you are in,” wrote Wolfe Herd in the letter to investors. “We will do this with our innovative technology – and advocating for equality, both through legislation and with the power of our trusted brand.”

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