Blockbuster Nasdaq Debut Catapults Female Founder Of Online Dating App Bumble Into A Billionaire

Shares of Bumble Inc, the owner of the online dating app where women make the first move, jumped 64 per cent in its trading debut on the Nasdaq exchange, catapulting the company’s Chief Executive Officer Whitney Wolfe Herd in to a billionaire.

The company’s stock closed at $70.31, with a market capitalisation of $13 billion. Its initial public offering (IPO) was priced at $43 a share, raising $2.2 billion for Bumble.

Whitney Wolfe Herd founded Bumble in 2014 following an acrimonious departure from Tinder, the rival dating app she helped found. Bumble was created as a platform by championing a policy under which women make the first move. The app also has an option for users seeking same-sex interactions.

With the backing of Russian tech billionaire Andrey Andreev (the founder of dating app Badoo), Whitney Wolfe Herd created Bumble as a service “by women, for women,” touting it as a place where women were empowered and harassment was rigorously policed.

Among Bumble’s competitors are Match Group (that owns dating apps Tinder, OkCupid and Match.com) and Facebook, which also started its own dating app in 2019.