Bumble: A Different Kind of Dating Platform

April 26 2021

Bumble (NASDAQ: BMBL), an online dating and social networking platform, was founded in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with offices in Barcelona, London, and Moscow, Bumble was created with women at the center; a dating solution where women make the first move. Bumble is rewriting the script on gender norms, with a platform designed to be safe and empowering for women while also providing a better environment for all. Bumble utilizes innovative technology solutions to build a safer and more inclusive way to connect online, regardless of gender. Consensus estimates call for the company to generate revenue of $724 million this year, with profitability bordering on break-even.

Bumble debuted on the NASDAQ on February 11th, 2021, in a 57.5 million Class A common stock offering, priced at $43 per share. Bumble’s pre-IPO balance sheet consisted of $218 million in cash with $628 million in debt. When added to the $2.5 billion raised from the offering, Bumble possessed close to $2.7 billion in cash with $628 million in debt immediately after the offering. With a recent share price of $60, Bumble carries a market cap of approximately $11.2 billion.

Bumble’s platform enables users to connect and build healthy relationships on their own terms. Further, Bumble believes there is an opportunity to extend its solutions beyond dating, to encompass relationships across all areas of life, including friendships, careers, and more. By empowering women across all their relationships, Bumble feels it can grow into a leading global women’s brand.

Bumble currently operates two apps, Bumble and Badoo, where more than 42 million users come every month to discover new people and connect in an empowering, secure, and safe environment. These two apps run on a common infrastructure, allowing insights to be shared between the apps. Bumble believes this is an integral piece in providing its users with high-quality and personalized experiences. Bumble facilitated an average of more than 150 million messages sent per day across its two apps in the nine months ended September 30th, 2020.
The Bumble app was released in 2014 and was one of the first dating apps built with women at its core. With Bumble, women make the first move, and have done so more than 1.7 billion times since the app’s launch. Bumble supports roughly 12 million monthly active users, and is the second highest grossing dating app in the world, according to Sensor Tower. Bumble is a leading online dating platform in many countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. During the nine months ended September 30th, 2020, Bumble boasted 1.1 million Bumble App Paying Users.

The Badoo app was founded by Andrey Andreev and first launched in 2006. This app was a pioneer in free web and mobile dating products. Badoo’s slogan of “Date Honestly” deeply connects to Bumble’s focus on building meaningful relationships for everyone. Bumble and Badoo are two of the highest grossing online dating apps in the world. According to Sensor Tower, as of August 2020, Bumble ranked in the top five grossing iOS lifestyle apps in 30 countries, and Badoo ranked among the five highest grossing iOS lifestyle apps in 89 countries.