According to a report from Bloomberg, the company behind dating app Bumble is currently weighing an initial public offering (IPO) in the US. Andrey Andreev, the majority shareholder of Bumble owner Rimberg International, revealed that his company in “deep discussions with banks,” including JPMorgan Chase & Co.
“The listing would be on the Nasdaq. It’s been in the air for ages, but the serious consideration has happened only recently — in the past month,” said Andreev via Bloomberg.
Rimberg International is a holding company that also has control of other dating apps like Chappy and Badoo. Badoo is known as one of the world’s biggest dating apps based on the number of users at over 400 million. Andreev founded Badoo in 2006.
Through an IPO, Andreev is hoping that Rimberg would surpass Tinder owner Match Group as the world’s most valuable dating company. Andreev told Bloomberg that his company’s revenue may hit as much as $400 million this year.
“We’re better than Match, we’re younger than Match, we’re growing faster than Match,” added Andreev. “Because we’re younger and faster we deserve a better market cap.”
Andreev said that Bumble would be the “umbrella brand” for its IPO. And he said that the IPO will not happen before the end of this year.
Andreev launched Badoo after selling several companies in Russia. And he used some of the proceeds from those sales to invest in Bumble. What makes Bumble unique from other dating apps is that women make the first move while making heterosexual connections.
Bumble was launched by founder Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2014 when she left Tinder due to sexual harassment. Through Badoo, Andreev provided Herd with $10 million to get Bumble off the ground. This gave Andreev’s company a stake of more than 75% in the company. Currently, Bumble has 41 million users — which is more than double a year ago.
