DNA INDIA – Speed Dating is part of a bundle of new features that also includes Recommend to a Friend, which allows the Bumble community to play cupid and help find their friends new connections. Speed Dating allows users to go in 'blind' and prioritise personality over physical attraction. It requires people to start conversations without seeing any pictures of the other person, with profile photos hidden for the first three minutes of messaging. Once the time is up, each person will be asked if they would like to continue the conversation and if both people choose to match, their chat will live in their Date Mode queue and their profile will be available to view following the event. Speed Dating pairings are based on location, age and gender preferences.
Category: Bumble
Creative Minds: Bumble’s Naomi Walkland
LITTLE BLACK BOOK – Naomi Walkland, the VP EMEA marketing at Bumble, discusses what makes a "creative mind" and how to inspire creativity in others. She believes that curiosity is the key to creativity and that creativity can take many different forms. Naomi thinks creativity can be developed and nurtured over time, and she finds time for creativity even as a new mother. The modern world is changing what creativity looks like, and technology like GENIE can democratize opportunities for creatives. Naomi cites the Nike and Tiffany partnership as an example of how two completely different brands can come together and create something new and unique.
Dating Apps Seeing “Some Upside Limit” to User Growth”
THE GLOBAL HERALD – Citi Director of Internet Equity Research Ygal Arounian joins Yahoo Finance Live to analyze Bumble's position in the online dating space and how the dating app and competitors like the Match Group may be experiencing slowing user growth.
Bumble and Panorama Global Partner to Combat Image-Based Sexual Abuse
PANORAMA – On the 20th anniversary of Safer Internet Day, Panorama Global and Bumble have joined forces to combat image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) online. IBSA happens when someone shares or threatens to share explicit images without someone's consent. It can reach a global audience quickly via pornographic websites or social media platforms. This issue remains an under-recognized crime that has largely been ignored by judicial systems around the world. The partners hosted the Lived Experience Summit where survivors shared their experiences. They also established partnerships with government agencies and regulatory commissions in Australia, South Korea, South Africa, and Taiwan. To address the challenges in this space, they will co-develop a strategy that advocates for new and stronger laws, better survivor support, innovative technology solutions, and widespread prevention strategies. 1 in 12 U.S. adults report that they have been victim of image-based abuse. Women are 1.7 times more likely to be targeted than men. Those who identify as LGBTQ+ are 4 times more likely to be victims than those who identify as heterosexual. 51% of IBSA victims in the US have contemplated suicide.
Whitney Wolfe Herd: How I Built a Tech Company With Women in Control
FORBES INDIA – On International Women's Day 2023, Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble, shares career advice aligned with the theme of DigitAll: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality. She advises turning challenges into fuel, knowing your weaknesses, and hiring for them, throwing old rules out the window, not glorifying the grind, and embracing kindness as power. Her mission with Bumble has always been to make the Internet a better place for women, and she believes that her work offers entrepreneurs a blueprint for how to succeed in a saturated field.
Bumble Stock Falls as CEO and Blackstone Plan to Sell Shares
BUSINESSWIRE – Bumble, the parent company of Bumble, Badoo, and Fruitz, has announced that some of its shareholders will sell 12.5M shares of the company's Class A common stock to the public. The selling shareholders are affiliated with Blackstone, a private equity firm, and Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of Bumble. Bumble itself will not be selling any shares in this offering and will not receive any of the money from the sale. Bumble shares declined more than 7% today following this announcement.
Blackstone and Bumble Are Still a Fitting Match
REUTERS – Blackstone's investment in Bumble has proved to be lucrative despite the company's decline in share price since the IPO in 2021. Blackstone bought a majority stake in Bumble in 2019, valuing it at ~$3B. Bumble's enterprise value is now closer to $4B, and Blackstone still owns 40% of its equity. The private equity firm has made back its investment and more, selling ~$2B in stock in the public offering, nabbing another $1B in a secondary offer, and receiving ~$300M in dividends. Blackstone's current stake, including a minority interest, is worth ~$2B based on public market prices.
Bumble Q4 Financial Results
BUMBLE – Bumble, the parent company of Bumble, Badoo, and Fruitz, reported its Q4 and the full year 2022 results. In Q4, the total revenue increased 16.7% to $241.6M, while its Bumble App revenue grew 27.7% to $190.8M. Bumble App paying users grew 133K sequentially in Q4; added 502K paying users in FY22 compared to FY21. Badoo and other revenue declined 11.9% to $50.8M, compared to $57.6M. For the full year, Bumble's revenue increased 18.7% to $903.5M. However, the company's net loss for the year was $(114.1)M, compared to net earnings of $281.7M in 2021. The company's CFO expressed confidence in their ability to scale the business and deliver profitable growth in 2023.
Bumble Expected to Post 4Q Profit as Revenue Grows
MARKETWATCH – Bumble is set to post its Q4 results today after the market closes. Bumble is expected to report $235.7M in revenue, up from $208.2M in the year-ago period. Bumble is expected to report $1M in net income, compared with a loss of $14.7M.
The Dating App Revolution Has Hit Japan
JAPAN TIMES – In a recent survey of 20- to 40-year-olds in Japan, 80% of unmarried men and women said they wanted a relationship. But a majority of that number, 55%, said they were moderately or very passive in their approach to dating. In addition to internationally known apps such as Tinder and Bumble, popular Japanese dating apps include Omiai, Pairs, Tapple and YYC (in order from least to most casual). Despite their popularity, users still report complaints about the dating app method in Japan. Men lament getting regularly stood up, and women describe a frequent expectation of sex on the first date that can sometimes turn aggressive. Both men and women have also complained about ghosting. "72% of Tinder members say they want to meet someone who understands exactly what they're looking for," says Kyo Cho, the country manager at Tinder Japan. To address that, Tinder recently introduced a "Relationship Goals" tab for user profiles that lets them display what they're looking for, with the options of "long-term partner," "long-term, open to short," "short-term, open to long," etc.