Bumble in the Market: Is It New Love?
2 minutes for reading
Not so long ago, we told you about the upcoming IPO of Bumble and evaluated the global dating market. Let's see today what's going on with the stocks and whether the founder of the company is happy.
What’s Bumble?
This is an online dating platform created in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd and Andrey Andreev. In the app, users can find romantic love, meet new friends, or make useful business contacts.
Later the dating service joined the MagicLab holding structure alongside Badoo, Lumen, and Chappy. In 2019,the control package of the holding was sold to the Blackstone Group investment trust. The whole entity was estimated as 3 billion USD and renamed Bumble.
The Internet platform can boast a list of investors that proudly shows such names of venture organizations as Greycroft, Accel, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
How was the IPO of Tinder’s rival?
The company planned to attract 1.8 billion USD, placing 50 million stocks for 37-39 USD each in NASDAQ on February 10th. Later the starting price of the stocks was increased to 43 USD. Thus by the IPO Bumble attracted 2.15 billion USD, increasing its capitalization to 8.2 billion USD.
The money is enough to pay off some debts and cover the expenses of the IPO.
Were first trades a success?
On February 11th, the stocks of Bumble (NASDAQ: BMBL) closed the trading session at 70.31 USD, growing by 63.5%. On the next day, they grew by 7.32% more to 75.46 USD.
The new youngest self-made billionaire
After the IPO, the founder and CEO of Bumble Whitney Wolfe Herd became the youngest billionaire who earned her capital herself. According to Forbes, she owns 11.6% of shares of the dating service, which amounts to 1.6 billion USD after the IPO.
Summing up
An online dating platform called Bumble entered NASDAQ and gathered almost 20% more than planned by the IPO — 2.15 billion instead of 1.8 billion USD. On the first days of trades, its stock price grew from 43 to 75.46 USD
The successful IPO helped the founder of the app not only appear on the list of women-billionaires but also become the youngest self-made billionaire. I think this is a bright start, and what do you think?
