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Whitney Wolf-Heard, Founder of Dating App Bumble
The market value of the dating app “Bumble” – which is best known for giving women the lead in identifying potential mates – rose to more than $ 13 billion after its stock was offered.
Thanks to the app’s performance on Wall Street, the 31-year-old founder of Whitney Wolf-Heard has become a rare self-proclaimed billionaire.
Bumble, which also owns Badoo, is one of less than a dozen U.S. companies offering female-led stocks.
The company’s shares were offered at a rate of $ 43 per share, for a total value of over $ 8 billion.
But with the start of trading on Thursday, the share price rose to over $ 76 and the company’s total value rose to $ 13 billion.
“the first step”
Published image, Reuters
Wolf-Heard was inspired by her frustration with old dating standards
Heard started Bumble in Texas in 2014, with the support of Russian billionaire Andrey Andreev, founder of European dating site Badoo.
She says she was inspired by the idea of creating a platform for women to take the “first step” of her frustration with the old gender norms that govern dating.
And unlike most dating apps, women can only make first contact with the right men. And when you are dating two people of the same sex, either one can make the first contact.
“I know firsthand how asymmetric relationships negatively affect all walks of life. I want to change that, ”Wolf-Heard wrote to investors ahead of the launch.
Heard is the youngest woman to run a company to go public in the United States, and she also co-founded Tinder Dating, but left the company for sexual harassment.
Match Group (Tinder’s parent company) denied the allegations and attempted to acquire Bumble, unsuccessfully, and had to pay $ 1 million to settle the dispute.
Bumble and Badoo has been run by Wolf Heard since 2019, when Andreev sold his stake in the companies to investment giant Blackstone.
The number of users of the two applications reaches 40 million people, of which more than 2.4 million subscribers pay subscription fees.
Published image, Reuters
The market value of the Bumble app increased to $ 13 billion when its shares went public
The impact of the epidemic
Bumble, whose apps are available in more than 150 countries, says it is poised to expand, noting the growing number of singles around the world and growing dependence on online dating, with indications that users are more willing to pay for them. Subscription fees.
The company is also expanding in several areas, such as business networking.
But despite the slight increase in Bumble usage, the Corona virus outbreak has taken a toll on the company, which mainly derives its profits from subscriptions and in-app purchases.
In 2019, revenue jumped more than 35% and profits rose to $ 68.6 million.
However, in the first nine months of 2020, the growth rate fell to around 15% and a loss of $ 116 million was recorded.
In recent months, investors have shown a strong bias in favor of new stocks, which gave companies such as Airbnb and Dash high ratings at the start of their IPOs.
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