Bumble
Bumble is an online dating and networking application launched in 2014. Profiles of potential matches are displayed to users, who can "swipe left" to reject a candidate or "swipe right" to indicate interest. Until 2024 only female users could make the first contact with matched male users,[2][3] while in homosexual matches either person can send a message first.[4][5] The app is a product of Bumble Inc.
For other uses, see Bumble (disambiguation).
Bumble was founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd shortly after she left Tinder. Wolfe Herd has described Bumble as a "feminist dating app".[6] As of January 2021, with a monthly user base of 42 million,[7] Bumble is the second-most popular dating app in the U.S. after Tinder.[8] According to a June 2016 survey, 46.2% of its users are female.[9] According to Forbes, by 2017 the company was valued at more than $1 billion, and the company reported having over 55 million users in 150 countries as of 2019.[10][11]
History[edit]
Whitney Wolfe Herd, an early VP of Marketing at Tinder, founded Bumble shortly after leaving Tinder.[12] Wolfe Herd sued Tinder for sexual discrimination and harassment and settled for just over $1 million in September 2014.[12] Amidst the media attention surrounding the lawsuit, acquaintance, and Badoo founder and CEO Andrey Andreev contacted Wolfe Herd via email, and the two met up.[13] The pair formed a partnership: Andreev received 79% ownership in the company for an initial investment of $10 million, along with additional investments; Wolfe Herd served as founder, CEO, and 20% owner. As part of the agreement, the new company would also utilize Badoo's infrastructure and Andreev's consulting.[10] Wolfe Herd said the partnership was key due to Andreev's "knowledge and infrastructure".[14]
After the partnership was established, the pair recruited fellow Tinder departees Chris Gulczynski and Sarah Mick to design the interface and help launch Bumble.[13] Bumble was launched three months later in December 2014.[15] According to a 2018 Forbes investigation, infrastructure in Badoo's London headquarters was used for Bumble. Thirteen employees stated that the culture of the London office was unprofessional, with sexual harassment and assault of female employees. Allegations included widespread parties with prostitutes and illegal drug consumption, with photos of these parties and pornography of an employee in circulation on an internal email list.[14][16]
The company was valued at more than $1 billion in November 2017.[10] When private equity firm Blackstone Inc. purchased a majority stake in Bumble's parent company MagicLab, Bumble and its sister apps were valued at $3 billion.[17] Bumble and its sister apps earned $162 million in net revenue in 2018.[17] In April 2019, Bumble launched its lifestyle magazine called Bumble Mag.[18][19] In 2020, MagicLab was renamed Bumble as the parent company of both Bumble and Badoo.[20] As of 2020, Bumble has over 100 million users worldwide.[20]
The company headquarters are in Austin, Texas, and, as of 2021, had 650 employees globally.[21]
In February 2021, Bumble raised $2.2 billion through its IPO and the company had a valuation of over $7 billion.[22] Bumble was listed on the Nasdaq exchange, with shares initially valued at $43 but increasing to $76 on its opening day, valuing the company at more than $13 billion.[23][24] By November 2021, the company's shares had fallen by 20% after a quarterly earnings report which posited a decline in user growth, and users prepared to pay for its premium features.[25]
In February 2022, Bumble announced it had acquired Fruitz, a French-owned freemium dating app popular with Gen Z and used across Europe.[26] This was the company's first acquisition.[27] Starting in April 2022, Bumble users who report abuse are eligible for a collection of free courses from Bloom, an online provider of support for assault survivors.[28]
By November 2023, its fourth-quarter earnings showed that inflation and growing competition with Tinder had reduced user spending on its app's paid features.[29] The news coincided with its founder and CEO Whitney Wolf-Herd stepping down and Slack's chief executive Lidiane Jones replacing her.[30]
In February 2024, Bumble announced plans of laying off 350 employees as part of a restructuring plan, which constitutes 30% of Bumble's workforce.[31][32]
In May 2024, Bumble apologised for running a marketing campaign that critics said shamed women who were not sexually active. [33]
Users[edit]
Bumble had a reported 40 million users as of February 2021,[64] and 27 million downloads as of February 2018.[65] As of September 2019, Bumble was the second most popular dating app in the U.S., with a monthly user base of 5 million.[8]
An April 2016 report by SurveyMonkey stated that 49% of users went on the app daily, and 46.2% of users were female.[9] Wolfe Herd has stated that within the app's first eight months, it saw 5 million unique conversations initiated, all by women.[66] In April 2018, Bumble reported that 85% of users were "looking for marriage or a boyfriend/girlfriend", while 4% of men and under 1% of women were "looking for a hookup". They also reported that 25% of users had gone on a first date with someone they found on the app within the previous month.[67]
Bumble has also reported that its users spend an average of 62 minutes on the app daily.[68] In October 2016, the app launched new photo moderation rules that banned mirror selfies, obscured faces, and photos of users in underwear among others.[69] According to The New York Times, as of March 2017, Bumble had more than 800 million matches and 10 billion swipes per month and is the second most popular Lifestyle app in the iOS App Store.[52]
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Bumble reported a 10.9% increase in monthly active users in the final quarter of 2020.[70]
As part of their IPO filing, Bumble announced in January 2021 that they had 2.4 million paying users.[7]
Reception[edit]
Feminist label[edit]
Bumble has been considered a "feminist Tinder".[71][72] Its founder has confirmed this identity, calling the app "100 percent feminist," although she has attempted to distance the app from Tinder in interviews.[68][6] Wolfe Herd shared in an interview with Vanity Fair the concept behind the app: "If you look at where we are in the current heteronormative rules surrounding dating, the unwritten rule puts the woman a peg under the man—the man feels the pressure to go first in a conversation, and the woman feels pressure to sit on her hands... If we can take some of the pressure off the man and put some of that encouragement in the woman's lap, I think we are taking a step in the right direction, especially in terms of really being true to feminism. I think we are the first feminist or first attempt at a feminist dating app."[68]
In June 2016, Bumble posted an open letter to its blog and blocked a user for sexist behavior after he had an outburst at a female user who asked him what he did for a living.[73][74]
Lawsuits[edit]
Bumble has also been criticized for not offering to refund purchases, even those made by mistake. Bumble was sued for not offering refunds of purchases, despite offering a cancel button. The lawsuit is Schlossberg v. Bumble Trading Inc., et al., case No. 1:18-cv-08376, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.[77]
In 2020, Bumble agreed to pay $22.5 million in a settlement over plaintiffs' claims that the company's auto-renewal processes were unfair. The class action lawsuit, filed in California, said Bumble charged consumers without their consent. Bumble admitted no wrongdoing in the case.[78]
Celibacy adverts[edit]
In May 2024, the dating app faced major backlash after launching a marketing campaign that entailed putting up billboards with captions such as: "You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer".[79] Bumble responded with a public apology, wherein the company said it would remove the ads and donate to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.[80]