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Top news story this week: Female-led dating company @bumble filed for an IPO. Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd will become one of the youngest female tech CEOs to take a company public. How did the journey start and why it is significant? Thread 
1/ Whitney Wolfe Herd was formerly a co-founder of rival dating app Tinder - which she left after two years, filing a sexual harassment & discrimination lawsuit against the company. The case was later settled.
2/In that same year, Whitney founded Bumle, the dating app where women make the first move when matching with men. Andrey Andreev(Co-Founder, Badoo) made an investment of $10m owning 79%, with Whitney owning 20% and becoming CEO.
3/In 2019 Andrey sold his entire stake in MagicLab(owning Bumble and Badoo) to Blackstone. As he stepped away, Wolfe Herd became the CEO of the whole company. She kept much of her stake in the business in the process; the deal valued Bumble +the wider business at $3bn.
4/Bumble saw great growth over the years:
Jan 2015 - 100,000 users, < $1m revenue to Dec 2017 - 22 million users, $100m revenue. In Dec 2017, Whitney was offered a $450m payout by The Match Group(that owns Tinder), which she turned down.
Jan 2015 - 100,000 users, < $1m revenue to Dec 2017 - 22 million users, $100m revenue. In Dec 2017, Whitney was offered a $450m payout by The Match Group(that owns Tinder), which she turned down.
5/ In January 2021, Bumble filed to go public (valuation between $6BN and $8BN). In its S-1 registration document, it reported it had about 42m monthly active users during Q3 2020 and around 2.4m paying users as of Sep 2020.
6/In a letter that accompanied Bumble's S-1, Whitney said:
"I set out to build what I wished had existed:
"I set out to build what I wished had existed:
7/..A way for women to make the first move without judgment or fear, and a technology platform that would encourage good behavior, treat all genders as equal and create better relationships for all I saw the solution as a drastic, years-overdue change in how we connect."
8/"Throughout the journey of building @bumble, we were told that it was impossible to create a successful women-first brand and platform. That women don't, won't, and shouldn't speak first. That it would never work.
9/..Those objections have only fueled us. 6 years and countless Bumble weddings, babies, friendships, business partners, and meaningful relationships later, we have a diverse and fast-growing community spread across 6 continents.. I.7bn first moves made by women."
10/"I spent the early years of Bumble reading nearly every customer feedback email, App Store review, and other communication streams of community interaction." This type of feedback led to some of the most successful features inc friendship discovery platform Bumble BFF).
11/And throughout this journey, the team remained dedicated to protecting this community. In 2019, Whitney successfully contributed to making sending unsolicited lewd pictures illegal and Bumble introduced tech removing those images before they are even seen.
12/"The importance of a woman making the first move is not exclusive to the world of dating, romance, or love. It's a powerful shift, giving women confidence & control. It ignites healthier connections, which lead to relationships rooted in kindness, accountability, & equality."
13/At 31, Whitney Wolfe Herd will become one of the youngest female CEOs in tech to take her company public. Previously it was Katrina Lake(Founder & CEO, Stitch Fix), who took her company public in 2017 at 34.
14/A recent Business Insider analysis found that out of the thousands of US publicly traded companies only about 20 were female-led. Despite this, the data shows a positive trend. 18 of them were listed in the past 7 years and 5 in 2020. Now +1!
15/“We remain incredibly dedicated to helping advance gender equality through building better relationships for people around the world. Until there is equality in all relationships, our job will not be done.” - @WhitWolfeHerd, an inspiration to many 
