Bumble Inc., the dating app where only women can make the first move, climbed as much as 85% in its trading debut after its initial public offering was expanded to raise $2.15 billion.
The company’s shares opened trading at $76 in New York Thursday. The stock was up 76% from the IPO price at 1:34 p.m., valuing Bumble at about $15 billion including debt, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Chief Executive Officer Whitney Wolfe Herd, who at 31 is the youngest woman to take a large company public in the U.S. as CEO, said in an interview Thursday she was grateful to other women having paved the way before her. She said Bumble would use the proceeds from the IPO to pay down debt and potentially pursue acquisitions.
“We’re very focused on aggressive international growth,” Wolfe Herd said.
Bumble sold 50 million shares for $43 each Wednesday after marketing 45 million shares for $37 to $39 apiece. That target had been raised earlier from 34.5 million shares at $28 to $30.
Private equity firm the Blackstone Group Inc. took a majority stake in Bumble’s parent company in 2019, in a transaction that valued it at $3 billion. Other investors include venture capital firms Accel, Greycroft and Bessemer Venture Partners.
The Bumble app was started in 2014 by Wolfe Herd, who previously co-founded the dating app Tinder.
In a letter to investors, Wolfe Herd said women making the first move is a “powerful shift.”
“Archaic gender dynamics and old-fashioned traditions still ruled the dating world,” she said. “This led to all sorts of unhealthy dynamics that ultimately disempowered women and created unnecessary pressure for men.”
For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Austin, Texas-based Bumble had a pro forma net loss of $28 million attributable to owners and shareholders on revenue of $413 million, according to its filings.
The offering was led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Bumble’s shares are trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol BMBL.
