Feminist dating app Bumble takes Wall Street by storm

WASHINGTON, United States — US dating app Bumble, where women make the first move, won Wall Street's heart as it went public Friday, with markets valuing the company at $13 billion. 

Bumble offered 50 million shares at a price of $43 each, allowing it to raise more than $2 billion. The New York Stock Exchange welcomed its new arrival, listed as "BMBL," with open arms: its shares shot up by 63.51 percent to $70.31 dollars in its first trading session, given the company a market capitalization of $13 billion.

Dating apps have been hugely successful since the pandemic began and singles found themselves without venues to meet up. 

One of the best-known players in the sector, Match, owner of Bumble's rivals Tinder and Meetic, has seen its shares increase fivefold on Wall Street since March and the outbreak of the pandemic in the United States.

Bumble Inc, which includes the Badoo and Bumble apps, was launched in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd, 31, a former president of marketing for Tinder. 

She wants Bumble to become a global social platform, first and foremost feminist and at the service of love, but also catering to professional and friendship issues and offering what she says is the power for women to create the relationships they want. 

A year after its launch, the application claimed 15 million subscribers and 80 million meetings. By 2020, Bumble had 54 million monthly users, according to Bloomberg, and 2.4 million paid subscribers through Bumble and Badoo. 

Both apps, which were acquired by the Blackstone investment fund in 2019, employ 600 people in Austin, Texas and have offices in several European cities.