Bumble has publicly filed for its US Initial Public Offering, after submitting all of the necessary paperwork to the Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of last year.
The filing refers to an offering up to the size of $100 million, although this is almost definitely a placeholder figure and will likely change before the company is listed in February. Reports have previously stated that Bumble is targeting a valuation in the region of $6-8 billion.
In the preliminary prospectus, Bumble revealed that at the end of September it had 42 million active users across its flagship product and subsidiary Badoo. This includes 2.4 million premium members.
It noted a net loss of $117 million from $417 million total revenue in the first nine months of 2020, which was put down to the closure of the Blackstone acquisition.
A spokesperson for the Austin-based business said in the filing: “We are just getting started. We see significant upside in our core online dating market driven by the steady growth of the global singles population, increasing adoption of online dating both in the United States and globally and increasing propensity to pay for online dating.”
However, it noted a couple of factors to potentially be wary of, including the oversaturation of the online dating market.
More significantly, changes to Apple’s privacy policy have also been identified as harmful to the business. Bumble expects less than 20% of users to opt-in to sharing their unique ID for advertising purposes, which could increase the cost per registration and lower the amount paid by marketers.
The listing for the dating company, which will see it traded under the BMBL ticker on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, could be finalised in time for Valentine’s Day.
Whitney Wolfe Herd will become the youngest female CEO to take her company public, at just 31-years-old. She included a letter to accompany the paperwork which celebrated the success of her business so far.
She wrote: “While we are proud of how far we have come, having grown from a community of just a few people to an IPO, today is just day one. This marks the start of a very bright future for Bumble Inc., one that we believe will change lives and drive great value for shareholders.
“Our mission, values, commitment to improving relationships globally, and dedication to our communities will continue to fuel us for the long run.”
There was also a hint that Bumble will continue to expand into new categories and services in the future, including health and wellness, travel, consumer and financial.
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