Founder Of This Dating App Becomes World’s Youngest Woman Billionaire! How Did This Happen?

On Thursday, New York City experienced the digital hoardings of Bumble, the dating app, flashing all over Times square. This is because the shares of Bumble rose to more than 76% in its debut initial public offering. The company’s CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd became the youngest woman to take her company public which was undoubtedly a great success.

What Milestones Are Achieved By Bumble?

Bumble shook the stock market when its shares opened at $76 per share which is 85% more than the original offer price of $43. The IPO resulted in adding a whopping $14 billion in the company’s valuation making CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd the youngest woman to lead a public company at the age of 31.

Previously, in the first nine months of 2020, the majority of which was under lockdown, the company reported a revenue generation of $376.6 million. Last year the app had 1.1 million paying users worldwide. 

What Worked In Favour Of Bumble?

Apparently, the pandemic has a lot of contribution in pushing online dating culture which in turn resulted in the company’s exponential growth. According to CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, the isolation experienced by people in pandemic led them to connect with more people and build relationships with them over a phone.

“People are building meaningful relationships digitally first, and then the physical follows. This is a really phenomenal shift toward safety and engineering more accountable experiences,” she said.

Besides, Bumble presented itself in the market in a way that made it more preferred by the female users. The ‘first move made by women’ rule of this app set it apart from its rivals like Tinder.

How Did Bumble Gain Popularity?

The journey of Bumble to a multibillion-dollar is nothing but a rollercoaster ride. The company was founded in 2014 after Whitney Wolfe Herd allegedly experienced sexual harassment while working as the vice-president of marketing for the rival company Tinder.

Five years after the company’s commencement, it was backed by Blackstone Group Inc who acquired the then owners of Bumble, MagicLab. This was the time when Whitney took the position of Chief Executive Officer at Bumble.

After a successful IPO, Whitney now aims to expand the company globally. She said, “Right now we’re very focused on taking the dating opportunity globally. We also hope to have the preeminent platform for meeting whoever you’re looking for, for whatever use case, in the long run.”

Bumble plans to settle its debts, acquire companies and grow internationally by investing $2.2 billion out of the total amount raised through IPO.