The times are rosy and Bumble is certainly feeling the love!
After causing a stir aplenty with its first date with an IPO, Bumble, a social media company operating two dating apps, has also had the Wall Street analysts beat on its revenue forecasts.
In a pleasant announcement, Bumble has revealed to be topping estimates in its recently released fourth-quarter results. Marking a 31% YoY growth with $165.6 million in revenue, the dating company’s namesake app raked in $105.8 million, with the Badoo app posting the other $59.8 million in FY Q4 2020.
Even though the company reported a net loss of $26.1 million from the net profit of $17.2 million it enjoyed in the same period the previous year, it still managed to post upbeat statistics on all the important fronts.
The women-centric dating app revealed to have 2.7 million paying users for Q4 across both its apps, which is up 32.5% from the Q4 of 2019. While the data for the total app users were not released, Bumble reportedly had a user base of 42.1 million active monthly users as of September 2020. The ARPU (average revenue per user) also received a boost in the fourth quarter, amounting to $20.02 when compared to the $19.99 during the fourth quarter of 2019.
The figures are all the more impressive considering how the Whitney Wolfe Herd-led Bumble was pegged to post lower numbers in its fourth quarterly report. Wall Street was looking for a quarterly loss of 13%, aside from predicting the total revenue for the year to finish at $716 million. Bumble beating all such estimates, going on to post a loss per share of only 1 cent while also exceeding revenue estimates to set sights on accruing $726 million.
Thriving on the back of a global pandemic that has driven hearts across the world online, Bumble went bold with their IPO debut in February. Successfully seeing off an initial public offering of $2.5 billion, it is staking a claim in the online dating market, which is presently topped by industry leader Match Group, operator of ultra-popular dating apps Tinder and Hinge.
It also made Whitney Wolfe Herd the youngest woman billionaire in the process, valuing her stake at $1.5 billion on the first day of trading at 1:03 p.m. in New York. The company’s board is said to be comprised of 70% females who are running the show very impressively.
Bumbles operates tow dating apps; Bumble, a women-centric app, is currently available for users in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. Badoo, on the other hand, operates more primarily in Europe and Latin America.
Bumble’s unique pitch, where only women can message first after mutually expressing interest in heterosexual matches, has clearly struck the right cords in the dating arena. As such, dating apps as a whole have seen a surge in usage as Covid-19 lockdowns have kept singles at home and tethered online.
Focusing on achieving international expansion outside its strongholds, the company is also in the works to offer adjacent services alongside its dating app. Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz are those which are getting primed for a launch, for platonic and professional connections. Even though developments are at a very nascent, CEO Herd isn’t expecting to monetize Bumble BFF until at least 2022.
Geographically, India, Mexico and Germany are said to be on Bumble’s radar. Average monthly users in Germany, for example, were 150% higher in the fourth quarter compared with the preceding year’s quarter.
As far as the dating realm goes, Bumble’s success has evidently spurred other rivals to follow step. Merely a day after Bumble’s IPO, the co-founders of OkCupid – another dating app – wasted no time in launching a $230 million IPO via a special acquisition company (SPAC)!
Clearly on the upswing, Bumble will look to turn oodles of love and opportunities into something much bigger in the coming years. A viable #2 to Tinder at present, Bumble is coming for the top spot. You go Bumble!
Stay tuned for more updates.
