Women making the first move has become big business.
Bumble, the Austin-based dating and professional networking app that set a new standard by requiring women to make the first move to cut down on unwanted advances by men, premiered Feb. 11 on the Nasdaq in a $2.15 billion initial public offering.
The pre-Valentine's Day market debut gave the company a valuation of more than $8 billion. That represents a dramatic climb from Bumble's founding in 2014 in Austin by Whitney Wolfe Herd, as well as a large jump from the roughly $3 billion valuation the company had when Blackstone Group bought a majority stake in 2019.
The company, which trades under the BMBL ticker, continually boosted its IPO expectations in recent weeks as its road show gave investors a closer look at the company. In one of its initial federal filings, the company targeted selling 34.5 million shares at $28 to $30. That climbed earlier this week to 45 million shares at $37 to $39 per share to raise $1.8 billion. Then, late Feb. 10, the company boosted the offering to 50 million shares at $43 apiece.
Bumble's share price surged on the Nasdaq, reaching as high as $79.60 in the early afternoon before closing at $70.31, meaning its market capitalization nearly doubled on opening day to about $14 billion. Track the stock in real time here.
Bumble President Tariq Shaukat said early Feb. 11 that the pricing grew as investors learned more about Bumble's long-term mission, as well as its women-first approach internally and externally. He said 73% of the company's board members are women.
“It’s just so rare within the tech world to have a company like ours that is growing quickly, that is successful, that is global and that adopts a women-first approach to how we think about the business," he said.
The new influx of capital will help the company make new hires and gain more traction in international markets, including in India, where it has recently made significant in-roads and has about 500,000 monthly active users.
“We think that there are a lot of signs that there’s a real opportunity on the Bumble side globally," Shaukat said.
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The company had more than 650 full-time employees as of Sept. 30, according to securities filings. Roughly 560 of those employees are outside of the U.S.
Bumble hasn't disclosed its Austin headcount. But Shaukat said that the local team will keep growing and has already essentially outgrown its headquarters building at 1105 W. 41st Street in North Central Austin.
Shaukat, who moved to Austin last year, said the company will build its senior leadership team in Austin and London. The company's CFO, Anu Subramanian, will move to Austin, as well, when offices reopen. He also anticipates Bumble will expand at its current location or find a new HQ in Austin once it has developed a full-scale return-to-the office plan.
"Austin will remain the heartbeat of the company in many ways," he said.
In recent years, Bumble has launched several philanthropic and community support efforts, including working in Austin with nonprofit JUST to provide capital, coaching and community to women founders, as well as small business grants to help entrepreneurs manage through the pandemic.
Shaukat said he expects those types of efforts to help women and encourage equitable relationships to continue.
While Bumble will now be subject to the pressures of quarterly reports and additional scrutiny that comes with being a publicly traded company, Shaukat said executives remain focused on the long-term. Meanwhile, he also said he anticipates Wolfe Herd, who has a 14-month-old child, will remain in the CEO role indefinitely.
“Hopefully, this all is an example to women founders out there in particular that the sky’s the limit," he said.
On "CBS This Morning" on Feb. 11, Wolfe Herd said that she sees Bumble's IPO as the first day of a new chapter, as well as an example that women founders can do anything.
“There was a time I thought my career was over in 2014,” she told CBS, referencing her departure as co-founder of Tinder. “If I can sit in this seat today, it just goes to show that anything is possible. And anybody can rebuild themselves, just staring over, taking that first step, making the first move and they can reinvent themselves when they go through hardship.”
