America’s fastest-growing dating app, Bumble, has amassed over 100 million users worldwide. It is also expanding gradually into professional networking and friendship in addition to dating. So fast was their growth that the company recently went public and the stock popped up upon its open – which resulted in a market cap of over $8.3 billion. However, how much do you know about this popular online dating app? Here’s what you need to know about the female-led dating app. This includes how it works and how you can use it to make friends.
What is Bumble?
Bumble is a Tinder-like dating app that lets people use photos to create their mini profiles and find potential suitors. Users can swipe right to like a profile and swipe left to dismiss it. If two people like each other’s profile, that’s a match. Bumble only allows women to take the first step and send the first message. Consequently, the match will be lost if the woman doesn’t send the first message after pairing. Thus, the app is popular for having matched millions of people and lead to thousands of engagements and weddings.
How Does It Work?
To use Bumble, you first need to download the app from the App Store and create an account. Creating an account could easily be done from Facebook. You can then select a picture from your Facebook account to include on your Bumble profile and also write a short bio about yourself. The app then uses your location to search for potential matches around you using your gender, age, and distance preferences. Thereafter, you swipe right when you find a match you like or left if you’re not interested.
How It Started
Bumble was launched by Ms. Wolfe Herd in Texas in 2014 with the help of Russian billionaire Andreey Andreev, the founder of the European online dating site Badoo. She says frustration with old gender norms that govern dating prompted her to create the first dating platform that allows women to make the first step. Unlike most dating apps, only female users can contact a male user first, but in same-sex matches, anyone can send a message first. Ms. Wolfe Herd is the youngest woman to take a company public in the United States. She also co-founded the dating app Tinder but left the company due to alleged sexual harassment.
How It’s Going
Two years after its launch, Bumble amassed over 22 million users which prompted Match Group (the same company that owns Tinder) to make a $450 million buyout offer. However, Bumble turned it down. Bumble has since expanded beyond dating: first in 2016, a service for finding platonic relationships known as Bumble BFF was created; then in 2017, a service for professional networking called Bumble Bizz was created. Bumble has also attracted several celebrity partners and investors: when Bumble began expanding in India, popular actress Priyanka Chopra became an investor. Tennis superstar Serena Williams is also an investor in the Bumble fund.
