Bumble

Image: Bumble

Dating platform Bumble has announced the addition of two new executives to its roster, making its C-Suite have an equal male-to-female ratio. Overall according to LinkedIn, Bumble has 926 employees and offices in Austin, London, and Moscow.

Anu Subramanian will join as Bumble’s Chief Financial Officer, and Selby Drummond will take on the position of Chief Brand Officer. Subramanian comes from the same position at Univision, where she led digital assets that included its direct-to-consumer business, according to Tech Crunch. Drummond departed Snapchat, where she had been the first-ever global head of Fashion and Beauty Partnerships. She led the launch of Snap’s fashion and shopping features, as well as initiatives for the popular Bitmoji products. Prior to that, she had been a senior fashion editor at American Vogue and was involved with events like the Met Gala as well as the magazine and website.

Dating app Bumble announced the addition of three new COVID-related profile badges that users (it is unclear if this is just for users in India or all users) can choose from to indicate how socially distant they want to be on a date.

The three badge choices are virtual, socially-distanced, and socially-distanced with masks to clearly identify their comfort levels with dating during the pandemic. Company executives told The Hindustan Times that this alleviates the awkwardness of conversations surrounding COVID-19, and how each dater feels about interaction.

Dating app Bumble has announced it will donate a “high six-figure commitment” to the National Domestic Violence Hotline’s new “love is respect” initiative, which aims to empower young people to end abusive relationships. According to news site Built in Austin, the partnership will continue for a three-year period, building on the $100,000 donation Bumble made to the organization back in March. 

When the pandemic progressed and stay at home orders went into effect, many women were placed at risk, because they were essentially trapped with their abusers. Domestic violence is a problem in the U.S., where guns are pervasive and far too often women are the victims in domestic assaults.

OkCupid Voter 2020 Badge

Image: OkCupid

Several popular dating apps including OkCupid, Tinder and Bumble are encouraging their users to vote through in-app promotions, according to The Hill.

As election season in the U.S. gets underway, many grassroots organizations are asking volunteers to make sure all eligible people, especially first-time voters, register to vote. Many non-profit groups are hoping to capture the attention of young people and get them excited about voting, and one of the strategies is to engage dating app users.

Popular feminist dating app Bumble is preparing for an initial public offering early next year, and is reportedly talking with banks about the plan.

The timing is still tenuous, but it was reported by Bloomberg News that the company’s valuation could be between $6 billion to $8 billion dollars. Bloomberg also noted that private equity firm Blackstone Group bought a majority stake in Bumble last year, when it was known as MagicLab. Blackstone valued the company then at $3 billion.

MacigLab was recently rebranded as Bumble by its new CEO and Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, who took over after Andrey Andreev resigned. Herd has made some changes including significant rebranding and folding in gay dating app Chappy to its signature Bumble dating app. Popular dating app Badoo, also founded by Andreev, is part of the Bumble suite of apps.

Bumble on TikTok

Bumble has turned to TikTok to help drive new subscribers, and has seen its installs increase five times between March and May when their campaign took place. The dating app has also seen its costs per subscriber decrease by 64% since running its direct response ads on TikTok’s platform, according to Mobile Marketer.

Bumble employed influencers to raise awareness of its app, creating content that would attract new users, specifically the younger demographic that gravitates to video-based social media like TikTok. The partnership was a success, with Bumble reporting revenue last month that was second only to dating app Tinder.