Bumble Dating App Tops $13 Billion USD in Market Debut
Making its 31-year-old founder a billionaire.
After unveiling that it could be preparing for an IPO towards the end of last year, dating app Bumble has rocketed to a market value of over $13 billion USD.
While it was initially predicted to reach a value of around $6 billion USD, opening trade on Thursday saw shares rise to more than $76 USD each, making the company worth more than $13 billion USD.
According to reports, the app’s 31-year-old founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is just one of less than two dozen female founders to be at the head of a U.S. firm at the time of listing.
Initially founded in 2014, Bumble received initial backing from Russian billionaire — and founder of European dating site Badoo — Andreey Andreev. With an intention to create an app that allowed women to make the first move, Bumble became an instant hit.
After Andreev sold his stakes in both Bumble and Badoo in 2019 to investment firm Blackstone, Bumble alone has gone on to reach over 100 million users across more than 150 countries around the world.
In other news, here’s a closer look at the new social app everyone is talking about: Clubhouse.
