On Bumble, only women can send the first message, and by 2020 they had done it more than 1.7 billion times. Whitney Wolfe Herd launched the app in 2014 with a simple rule meant to make online dating feel safer and more polite. It grew into one of the biggest dating apps in the world. When Bumble went public in February 2021, it also owned Badoo, and Blackstone held a large stake.

One Rule, Built In

Wolfe Herd launched Bumble in Austin in 2014. Other apps let anyone message anyone. Bumble gave women the first move. The bet was that a better experience for women would bring more of them, and men would follow. Bumble later added modes for making friends and for business networking. In January 2020 Blackstone bought a majority stake in the company that owned Bumble and Badoo.

A CEO Who Came Back

Bumble priced its IPO at $43 a share in February 2021 and listed on Nasdaq as BMBL. It sold 50 million shares and raised about $2.2 billion. The stock fell well below that price in the years after. In January 2024 Wolfe Herd handed the CEO job to Lidiane Jones and became executive chair. In 2025 she returned as CEO. Bumble still trades on Nasdaq.

Cover: A Moth, Butterflies, and Bees, from Diversae Insectorum Volatilium Icones, Wenceslaus Hollar. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for bees (Bumble).