Badoo

Dating app Bumble is changing the look of profiles and giving an upgrade to its algorithm to provide a better online dating experience for its users.

The female-focused dating app unveiled its new look in early December. The update prioritizes a person’s pronouns and interests after their primary photo, and according to Axios Austin, this move will help users more easily identify potential matches.

The algorithm changes are aimed at creating a more curated experience. The app will now provide users with recommendations for which picture should be front and center in your profile, which the company said from early reports has already led to more matches. Bumble’s AI technology is also learning more preferences based on user behavior, noting that curating matches this way has helped people spend more time looking at each profile, an indication of heightened interest among users.

Online dating can be time consuming, but it can also lead to burnout when matches are looking for different things, according to a new study by dating app Badoo.

The dating app surveyed its users and found that 78 percent can relate to experiencing burnout from dating, and that it can often feel like a chore because of mismatched intentions about what they are looking for. Dating fatigue happens a lot when dates aren’t honest about what they want from a romantic connection, according to Metro UK.

In addition to the feeling of wasted time spent dating people who aren’t so compatible, there’s also a cost - daters spend roughly 285 GBP per year on what are ultimately failed dates, and on average, daters have about six bad dates per year.

Shares for Bumble Inc, which owns the popular dating apps Bumble and Badoo, fell more than twenty percent after the company’s third quarter earnings call in November. 

The dating app went public earlier this year, with shares taking off out of the gate. In recent weeks however, investors have cooled on the stock, and Bumble has pointed to pandemic lockdowns in strong markets like Japan which have cut into the company’s overall revenue. The latest dip after the earnings call was the stock’s lowest point yet. 

According to Forbes, for the first time since its IPO, Bumble posted a decline in overall user growth, with total paying users dropping to 2.87 million through September, down from 2.93 million in the second quarter.

Dating app Bumble had a rough third quarter, with total paying users down 2 percent from the second quarter. It was the first time the company saw a decline in its user base since going public in February of this year.

According to Reuters, total paying users fell to 2.9 million as the pandemic surge prompted new lockdowns in hard-hit countries. The company says the pandemic surge caused an overall drop in consumer spending on dating apps and in-app purchases. This news spooked investors and sent Bumble’s stock tumbling 9 percent, a 32 percent total decline since its IPO.

The company owns popular dating app Badoo which was hit especially hard due to its popularity in markets affected by the Covid surges. Badoo accounts for about a quarter of the company’s total revenue according to Barron’s.

Dating app Bumble exceeded analysts’ expectations when the company reported its first quarter earnings, with revenues and new subscriber numbers significantly higher than what was initially predicted.

Revenue for the dating company rose 43 percent from the same quarter in 2020 to $171 million, up from $79.1 million this time last year, beating expert estimates and even the company’s own predictions. According to Marketwatch, Bumble shared that the number of total paying users also rose significantly, up 30 percent to 2.8 million compared to 2.2 million from the first quarter of 2020. 

This past quarter was also good for Bumbles other dating brands like Badoo. Revenue for them increased year-over-year to $58.1 million.

Dating app Bumble is looking to make its stock market debut in February, likely in time for Valentine’s Day, according to a report from Bloomberg who broke the news.

The female-forward dating app was rumored to be planning its IPO for 2021, but there was no date or even timeframe specified. The company is backed by investment firm Blackstone Group, and according to Bloomberg, has already confidentially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public. In 2019, Blackstone acquired a majority stake in what was known as MagicLab, now rebranded as Bumble, which owns the Bumble apps and Badoo among other dating apps. At the time of the purchase, MagicLab was valued at about $3 billion.