The popular online dating app Bumble has submitted a preliminary S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in preparation for its initial public offering (IPO). The company plans to Nasdaq stock exchange using the symbol BMBL.
As this is an initial submission, Bumble has not yet announced how much it hopes to raise, how many shares it will offer or when shares will start trading.
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The company was founded by Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, who is also the CEO of Bumble. The management of the company – which consists of 71% women – also attracts the attention of many investors. This should come as no surprise, as the female focus of the Bumble app requires women to take the first step. The submission states: “We believe we have the potential to become a leading global women’s brand.”
The company’s two dating apps, Bumble and Badoo, are two of the best online dating apps in the world. It is among the top five-earning lifestyle apps for iOS in 30 and 89 countries, respectively, the company said, citing Sensor Tower data. The programs together boasted a combined 42 million monthly active users to close out the third quarter, resulting in 2.4 million paying customers.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Bumble reported revenue of $ 416.6 million, almost 15% higher than on an annualized basis, which slowed significantly from the 36% growth in 2019. At the same time, the company times from profit to losses. nine months of last year, with a loss of about $ 117 million, which worsened at a profit of $ 69 million in the previous year.
There were two other notable issues in submitting Bumble. The company acknowledged that the internal controls were materially poorly related to financial reporting, although Bumble was working to rectify the problem. In addition, the company earns some revenue from online advertising and notices it appealsay (NASDAQ: AAPL) the decision to get users to act on ad tracking could hamper Bumble’s future growth.