Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd joined the growing billionaire class of the tech industry after the explosive IPO of its dating app.
Bumble’s stock price jumped 63 percent to $ 70.31 on Thursday the company’s market debut, making it the latest tech darling to take off on its first day of trading.
Wolfe Herd, who founded Bumble in 2014, owns approximately 21.5 million shares in the company that were worth more than $ 1.5 billion at Thursday’s closing price.
The value of her stake of about 12 percent made Wolfe Herd, 31, the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire, according to Forbes. Her fortune could grow further Friday – Bumble shares were up about 4.7 percent to $ 73.60 in premarket trading as of 8:56 a.m.
Bumble – whose largest shareholder is private equity firm Blackstone – closed its first day of trading well above the $ 43 per share price it set for the $ 2.2 billion IPO.
The Austin-based company is the latest in a line of major technology companies taking advantage of a hot IPO market. Vacation rental giant Airbnb saw its stock price more than double on its debut in December, after DoorDash shares rose a whopping 92 percent on their first day of trading.
Wolfe Herd started Bumble after she parted ways with Tinder, which she co-founded and eventually sued for sexual harassment. Tinder denied any wrongdoing and the case was later settled, Forbes said.
Like Tinder, Bumble is free to use, but it makes money with premium subscriptions and in-app purchases. The signature feature of the app is that only women can start chats with male partners. (If you are looking for a same-sex match, please contact both people first.)
Bumble’s market value of $ 7.7 billion makes it much smaller than Tinder owner Match Group, which is worth about $ 46 billion.