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Investors “swiped right” on dating-app operator Bumble Inc. Thursday, sending its shares up 80% as they made their public debut.
Bumble’s stock BMBL, +65.85% opened at $76 a share midday Thursday before heading slightly higher. The company’s initial public offering priced at $43 a share late Wednesday, above a twice-raised range and enough for the company to rake in $2.2 billion through the IPO.
The company, which runs its namesake dating app as well as offshoots for finding platonic friends and networking connections, lets people swipe through profiles of potential matches and makes money when users pay for premium features, like the ability to see who’s already liked them on the app. Bumble also operates Badoo, a dating app that’s popular in Europe.
Bumble bills itself as focused on women’s empowerment, including through its trademark feature that requires women make the first move when messaging new connections. “We believe we have the potential to become a pre-eminent global women’s brand,” Chief Executive Whitney Wolfe Herd said on the company’s virtual investor roadshow.
See more: Bumble heads for IPO with focus on driving healthy relationships beyond dating
The company generated revenue of $416.6 million during the first nine months of 2020, up from $362.6 million during the comparable period a year earlier. Bumble also recorded a net loss of $118.5 million during the first nine months of 2020, versus net income of $54.0 million in the same period a year before.
The company had 2.4 million average paying users as of Sept. 30, an increase from 2.1 million as of a year prior.
Bumble is coming public as the Renaissance IPO ETF IPO, +0.13% has gained 40% over the past three months and as the S&P 500 SPX, -0.22% has risen 10% in that span.
