The Bumble Business Model: How does Bumble make money?

Bumble, Inc. is a revolutionary platform founded by Wolfe Herd, where women have all the power. In this article, we’ll explore the Bumble business model, and look at how does Bumble make money.  

Bumble: Company Profile

What is Bumble?

Bumble is the go-to place for finding a date when you need one. It was founded in 2014 and lets you add photos and videos to your profile and then show them to potential matches. You can also send messages to people who show interest in you. This app stands out from other dating apps and is currently available for Android and iOS devices.

The Bumble website states that “There are no rules, only guidelines” and “You’re in charge of your own destiny.” There is a 24-hour time frame for swiping through profiles and making choices.

The person who receives the most likes during this time frame can be matched with you. This includes some of the more unusual features that set Bumble apart from some other popular dating sites on the market.

As you will see, Bumble does not work like other dating apps such as Match.com, eHarmony, or even more niche competitors like Christian Mingle. It takes a women-first approach, meaning that female users must send the first message on Bumble.

Bumble makes it easy to use its messaging features to encourage women to initiate contact with potential dates and men to respond in kind. By leveraging the swipe and match functions, Bumble users can quickly find matches without going through the extensive profiles that other sites require. When Bumble was launched, other dating apps required users to pay upfront, whereas Bumble is free to download and use.

Over 2.86 million paying users on Bumble, which boasts a female-to-male user ratio of 60:40. The app also relies on an in-app purchase model for premium features, which has become common among dating sites looking to boost profits.

The story of Bumble

Whitney Wolfe Herd helped start Tinder when she was just 22 years old. Tinder is a dating app that allows people to chat online or meet up in real life. Most dating apps cost money when Wolfe started Tinder, but Tinder was different because it was free.

In the early days of Tinder, the team showed great awareness of its early users, mostly young and independent college students on college campuses, and they used this knowledge to make sure that the app worked well for them. Tinder snowballed until it became too big and complex.

Meet Whitney Wolfe Herd (co-founder of Tinder) and her company Bumble, whose mission is to bring back the “courtship” and make it even more effective than ever before.

When Wolfe Herd co-founded Tinder, she dated her former colleague, Justin Mateen, then CMO. After they broke up, things became complicated for Herd, and she eventually offered to resign from the company in 2014.

Wolf Herd would sue Tinder in 2014, accusing Justin of calling her derogatory names, threatening and harassing her. She also alleged in the lawsuit that Sean Rad, the then CEO, did not support her when she took these allegations to him. Instead, she was fired. Tinder settled the lawsuit filed by Wolfe Herd for an undisclosed amount in 2016.

Wolfe Herd felt that Tinder had become a place of meaningless hookups and sexual misconduct. She felt terrible about what happened because it destroyed her life.

Herd also realized that the lack of accountability and responsibility on social networks was a problem. She was ready to leave the tech industry when a successful entrepreneur named Andrey Andreev contacted her offering her the role of CMO for Badoo.

Andreev is the founder and creator of Badoo, the world’s second-biggest dating platform behind Tinder. With a 10 million dollar investment from Andreev, they created Bumble, a dating app that allows women to initiate contact.

Bumble was launched in December 2014 and was downloaded over 100,000 times in its very first month after being released.

Bumble expanded its user base over the next few years and went public in February 2021, making Wolfe Herd the youngest self-made billionaire. Bumble’s parent company, MagicLab, is now controlled by Blackstone. Wolfe Herd is the CEO of MagicLab, and she oversees both Bumble and Badoo.

How does Bumble work?

Bumble is an online dating app that takes a women-first approach and is designed to help you meet new people and romantic partners. Let’s look at how Bumble works.

On Bumble, you can swipe left or right on a profile picture. When two people swipe right on a profile, they are matched. After a match, Bumble requires women to be the ones who initiate contact in the case of heterosexual couples. Either person can message first for same-sex couples who match.

If you are a woman and you swipe right, and your match does too, you’ll have 24 hours to write to your match. If you don’t initiate contact within those 24 hours, your match will disappear.

Bumble has two other modes, Bumble Bizz and Bumble BFFs, in addition to the Bumble Date mode.

Bumble Date is the primary component of the Bumble app.

Bumble Bizz helps connect people who want to date each other and helps connect people who wish to advance their careers through networking. The Bumble Bizz component of the app lets people connect for professional reasons, like networking for job openings, chatting with potential interns, mentoring others, and starting up new careers.

The app also has a feature called Bumble BFFs, which lets you find people who share similar interests as you do. You can send messages, ask questions, and start conversations.

Bumble BFF allows people to find and match with others who live in a geographical location nearby so they can meet up and hang out. It was designed for people who are new to the area or find themselves struggling to meet new people and make friends. There aren’t any rules about which person initiates contact in Bumble BFF.

You can choose the Bumble Date, the Bumble BFF, or Bumble Bizz mode or use all three modes simultaneously. It is easy to switch between modes within the app.

Through its woman-first culture, Bumble aims to empower women to break down traditional gender roles in online dating. To promote these values, Bumble encourages its members to be accountable for their actions, treat others equally regardless of sex/gender, and act kindly towards one another.

Bumble Mission & Vision

Bumble’s mission is to develop a “platform and community that creates empowering connections in love, life, and work.” Their vision is “a world free of misogyny, where all relationships are equal.”

What is the Bumble business model?

Bumble is a free dating app that makes money using the Freemium model, SaaS (software as a service) business model, and the transaction-based business model.

Bumble’s statistics

• Bumble’s users: Bumble has 42 million active users globally and 2.86 million paying users.
• Bumble’s Market Cap: Bumble is valued at $6.485B as of 2022.
• Bumble’s employees: Bumble has 700 employees worldwide.
• Bumble’s revenue: Bumble’s revenue is $761 million for 2021.
• Bumble’s competitors: Match Group, the parent company of Tinder is Bumble’s biggest rival. 

How does Bumble make money?

As of 2022, the Bumble app has over 42 million users; 2.86 million are paying users. Bumble is free to download and use. Let’s look at the business model of Bumble and the revenue streams that Bumble has.

Bumble makes money by operating on the Freemium business model, where it offers basic features for free and charges for its special features. You can buy these bumble premium features as a one-time purchase or through a subscription.

Bumble offers two subscription plans,  Bumble Boost and Bumble Premium. Spotlight and SuperSwipe are two additional features you can buy separately. SuperSwipe is a feature that helps you let people know that you’re extra interested in them.

Spotlight is another one of the enhanced features that lets you place yourself at the top of the list of profiles. It’s like having an extra spotlight shining down upon you!

Bumble Coin is the in-app currency of Bumble that allows you to purchase premium features. With Bumble coin you can maximize your profile views with the  Spotlight feature or send SuperSwipes to convey your interest. One Bumble Coin costs $1.99, while 5 Bumble Coins cost $7.99 and 10 Bumble Coins cost $14.99.

You can also access these additional features by signing up for a Bumble Boost subscription. Bumble’s revenue model is based on these premium features and Bumble makes money on its premium users.

Premium Features (Boost, Spotlight, and  SuperSwipe)

Bumble Boost offers the following premium features

Spotlight is priced at $5.99 to $49.99 as a one-time purchase SuperSwipe is priced at $5.99 to $39.99 as a one-time purchase Boost is priced at $8.99 a week, $16.99 a month, $33.99 for three months, or $54.99 for six months.

Bumble Premium Subscription

When you upgrade to the Bumble premium subscription, you have access to all the features of Boost, including

Bumble Premium is priced at $19.99 a week, $39.99 a month, $76.99 for every three months, and $229.99 for a lifetime subscription.

Final Thoughts on the Bumble Business Model

Bumble is free to use, but users can upgrade to premium features if they wish. Bumble has a unique selling proposition as it combines dating, networking, and job searching into one place. 

Bumble’s female empowerment branding and user experience are its strengths. Dating on Bumble requires women to make the first move and break archaic gender roles. Women are empowered by this requirement, as well as it cuts down the amount of abuse and harassment that plagues many online dating sites.

With its recent moves into non-dating, social media and even business interactions, Bumble has made some exciting moves lately. Only time can tell whether this approach will be practical for audiences outside the U.S., but we’ll see.

We hope this article has given you some insights into Bumble, the popular dating app and how does Bumble make money.

Frequently asked questions about Bumble

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