Bumble appears to be courting a public offering in its near future.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the Austin-based social networking app could go public as soon as early 2021, seeking a valuation between $6 to $8 billion. Last November, Bumble — along with its parent company Blackstone — was valued at $3 billion.
Bumble declined to comment on the matter with Built In.
In June, the app — which allows women to initiate romantic, friendly and professional connections — told Built In that it had more than 95 million users. The company was founded in 2014 by CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, who previously co-founded Tinder.
Tinder is the most popular dating app in the United States and is owned by Match Group, which also owns social networking apps Hinge, Pair and Plenty of Fish. Match went public in 2015 and, after its first day on the exchange, was valued at $2.9 billion.
The pandemic has not slowed its — or Bumble’s — growth.
At the end of its second quarter on August 6, Tinder reported a 18 percent year-over-year increase in subscribers, with 6.2 million total users paying to use the West Hollywood-based app.
“The value proposition of our product has gotten stronger as people have fewer traditional alternatives to meet people,” Match Group CEO Sharmistha Dubey said during the earnings call.
Like Tinder, App Annie found that Bumble’s average number of weekly users has either increased or remained essentially the same since the pandemic began. Bumble currently has nearly 60 open positions listed on its website, with available jobs in Austin including a senior reporting analytics developer, digital marketing manager, PR coordinator and more.
The startup’s IPO would follow a string of recent tech companies with Austin ties thinking of going public.
In July, BigCommerce’s Nasdaq debut valued the e-commerce provider at $6.75 billion, and Hippo Insurance told Built In that “in 2021 we will be ready to go public,” after raising a $150 million Series E round to open a new Austin office.
