Bumble Inc

Popular dating app Bumble is a rising star among competitors to Tinder, mainly because of its female-friendly focus, giving women the power to initiate contact with matches. Now, Bumble is expanding beyond the dating scene with its new platform BumbleBizz, aiming to connect professionals looking for a new job, a business partner, or to hire new talent.

According to a feature in Fast Company, Bumble aims to give LinkedIn a run for their money, focusing once again on women in the workplace. Bumble itself is a female-only operation, with CEO Whitney Wolfe (a former co-founder of Tinder), at the helm. She has hired a team of women to help grow the company and launch BumbleBizz.

Notably, Wolfe is aiming to attract women. BumbleBizz works as its dating app counterpart does, where anyone can create profiles and swipe, but women initiate contact. While LinkedIn might be king of networking opportunities, Bumble aims to give it a run for its money by targeting a female demographic and giving them a leg-up.

Dating apps are proving to be a surprisingly loud voice in the fight against hate, harassment, and cruelty.

First, Tinder spoke out for animal rights by asking users to remove photos taken with tigers, which are often mistreated in the name of letting tourists take selfies with the world’s wildest inhabitants.

Then, OkCupid took a stand against harassment and unwanted, sexually explicit messages by introducing a Member Pledge to remind users to treat each other with kindness and respect.

Now, following the violence and tragic death of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, dating services are again stepping up to ensure their users can meet in a safe and welcoming space, free from hatred and discrimination.

Online dating corporation Match Group was reported to have made an offer to purchase dating app Bumble for $450 million this summer, according to a report by website Tech Crunch.

Match Group is the parent company to a number of dating apps, including popular Bumble competitors Match, Plenty of Fish, OkCupid and Tinder. It seems Bumble hasn’t accepted the offer, which is understandable since some analysts value the company at almost a billion dollars.

Bumble has a rocky history with Match Group as well, which could play a part in any decision about an acquisition. Bumble’s founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe sued Tinder and IAC in 2014, (when Match Group was a part of IAC). Wolfe was one of the co-founders of Tinder, and brought a sexual harassment lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend Justin Mateen, who also happened to be one of Tinder’s co-founders and the CMO. Wolfe accused him of sending her “sexist, racist, and otherwise inappropriate comments, emails, and text messages” following their very public breakup. The two parties settled out of court for an undisclosed amount, with neither side admitting any wrongdoing.

Badoo Look A Like

Ever downloaded Tinder or Bumble in the hopes of meeting someone who looked like Ryan Gosling or Chris Pratt? Well, look no further – dating app Badoo has launched its new Lookalikes feature to help you out.

The app provides a list of various celebrities for users to choose from (think Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Jessica Alba, Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, and even Donald Trump). When you click on that celebrity’s photo, a list of choices with profile pictures of your matches appears.

The app uses facial recognition technology to scour their database of 350 million daters to deliver the results. The matches aren’t exactly spitting images, but there are certain features that they and their celebrity counterparts have in common to consider them a lookalike. (Although I question a 40-something Jennifer Lawrence, for instance).

How to use the Bumble SuperSwipe

Dating apps are not only looking to differentiate themselves in a crowded market, they are trying to find ways to monetize without alienating customers. And now, female-friendly app Bumble is taking a leaf out of Tinder’s playbook and adding a new feature called SuperSwipe, similar to Tinder’s Super Like.

SuperSwipe allows users to call attention to someone they are really interested in, by clicking a heart on the chosen profile before swiping right and hoping for a match. The benefit is that your SuperSwipe can see that you’re interested before he swipes left or right, which hopefully increases your chances of matching with him.

Super Like on Tinder is very similar; your potential match can see that you’ve chosen to Super Like him in advance. Super Like is also only available via the app’s premium service, and it seems Bumble is following suit.

In the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend, two dating app companies have stepped forward to ban white supremacists from their platforms and offer donations to organizations that fight against hate groups.

OkCupid has offered a donation to a Charlottesville victim relief group, which is helping support victims of the attacks that shook the community in early August. Bumble has also stepped forward, announcing its partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, pledging a “zero tolerance policy against misogynist, abusive, and inappropriate behaviour.”

Bumble stated it will use the ADL’s “research and terminology” to identify and categorize hate symbols, and prevent people who use hate speech and symbols from using the dating platform.