Nowadays, people search for easy-to-use dating apps to find partners according to their profile, using various filters. Maybe a long-term relationship or short term, the online dating application comes to the rescue. There are different applications launched, and Bumble is one such application, widespread among the dating generation. Let’s know How Does Bumble Make Money?
Bumble Inc., founded by Whitney Wolfe in 2014, is a dating android and web application used to connect with people who haven’t met according to their likes. Bumble is not only limited to dating but has spread over the users who want to extend their network or meet friends online. It depends on the users how they want to use the application. Bumble has scrapped the gender norms and made it necessary for women to make the first move after the match, making it one of the genuine and safest platforms of the dating category. If women do not follow the request within 24 hours, the match automatically expires. The Bumble follows the freemium model for generating revenue. Many apps follow the model of in-app purchases, which enhances the usage of the Bumble application and a subscription model. All together helps Bumble to generate revenue for the company. Apart from the model, various extended features of the application also help the company make money. Bumble has around 100 million subscribers, making it worth 13 billion dollars of valuation in 2021.
Business Model of Bumble
Bumble is based on the freemium model. Bumble and companies like Netflix, Zoom, Spotify, and much more work on the same model. The strategy behind the model is to provide the application’s basic features free for all users, by which the company can spread worldwide and make some essential features payable. The dating feature, which let women lead the first move, made Bumble different from other apps. The feature provided the women a feeling of empowerment and tried to change the traditional culture of dating. Bumble divided its model into three modes, Bumble Date, Bumble Fizz and Bumble BFF. All have dedicated subscription fees. The model is dependent on in-app purchases, subscription fees, and membership to generate revenue.
- Bumble Date
Bumble started its journey with the concept of dating and initiated Bumble Date. The segment was dedicated to romantic partners who want to date. Bumble Date is the primary feature that Bumble provides in its freemium model.
- Bumble BFF
BFF stands for Best Friends Forever; though the app is dedicated to online dating, Bumble launched a segment dedicated to friendship. The basic idea behind creating the segment was to help those people who are new to the locality and feels hard to connect with people. People find each other of the same and a different gender to become friends, the procedure is similar to the dating segment, and the only difference is that people can start chatting once there is a match. As no one can bound the friendship, Bumble also let its feature of Bumble BFF be free and will always remain accessible to everyone worldwide.
- Bumble Bizz
Similar to the above segments, Bumble has covered dating and friendship, and lastly, they entered the world of business networks. The platform is used by the people who want to increase their professional network, lined up from their profession or interest. This platform is similar to LinkedIn, where people may find new jobs or recommendations. There are no charges to use the feature of Bumble.
How Does Bumble Generate Revenue?
The model is diversified as almost every networking segment from friendship to business is covered by the company. The freemium model let’s use all the services but with limited access. So, what makes money for Bumble? The features that make money for Bumble are:
- Bumble Coins
Bumble Coins are the in-app currency used to purchase premium features like Spotlight, SuperSwipe, Boost, and many more. A specific number of coins pays for every different feature of the app. Users have to purchase the coins using the platform. The cost of a single Bumble Coin is around $1.99. The total cost depends on how many coins users purchase. If a lot of 5 Bumble coins is purchased, the price paid by the user is $7.99. For purchasing 10 and 20 coins, the cost becomes $14.99 and $24.99, respectively. The primary revenue is generated by users purchasing the coins, as many vital features work only on the paid platform, and there is no other way than to use Bumble Coin
- Bumble Spotlight
Bumble spotlight is another paid premium feature used to promote the profile of the users for better reach. The spotlight feature, once activated, works for 30 minutes. The cost of Bumble Spotlight is two Bumble coins, which are valid for 30 minutes, and on the other hand, two spotlights can also be purchased, which will be valid for 150 minutes. Using spotlight users gets more chances to get more matches, as the profile is promoted and made visible on the top profiles, visible to almost everyone in the neighborhood. The feature is very similar to Tinder’s Boost. The spotlight also has the option of a one-time purchase, which any user can avail of after paying $5.99 to $49.99. The usage of Bumble Spotlight is more advantageous where the neighborhood is crowded, as there will be more probability that people will see your profile.
- Bumble Boost
Bumble Boost is one of the paid subscriptions provided by the company. The Boost enhances the platform’s usability by providing features like unlimited swiping, undo swipe, unlimited search filters, a list of people who like you, match again with old connections, and extended matches from 24 hours to 48 hours. Users are inclined to use the feature as it saves time and increases getting matches faster. Users can avail the facility of Boost by simple subscription-based weekly, monthly, quarterly, and lifetime. Bumble charges its users for the subscription fees from which the revenue is generated. Bumble Boost is applicable and works efficiently on all three major categories: Date, BFF, and Bizz. The subscription plan is quite affordable, out of which the weekly plan is the most opted out of all. The cost of a weekly plan is $5.99, for a month is $9.99, for a quarter of a year is $19.99, and half-yearly is $33.99. Many people opt for Bumble Boost, making the feature the most money-making feature for the company.
- Bumble Premium Subscription
Bumble Premium is the second paid subscription provided by the company. This category is more expensive than Boost. The Boost features are added with enhanced features like Beeline, Incognito, Travel, one spotlight per week, five SuperSwipes per week, and backtrack accidental swipes and Advanced Filters. The features are served to the users, providing an enhanced dating version for its users. The premium works on the subscription model, where the validity ranges from weekly to lifetime. The cost for weekly, monthly, quarterly, and lifetime plans are $17.99, $32.99, $66.99, and $199.99, respectively.
- Beeline
Beeline is the feature of Bumble where users can see the profiles of singles who have already right-swiped or liked your profile, but you haven’t swiped them back. As it saves lots of time and frustration not being swiped back, the feature is handy in a crowded neighborhood. To avail of this feature, users have to buy the subscription of either Bumble Boost or Bumble Premium, where users have to pay a minimum cost of monthly charge of $24.99 per month or a weekly charge of $8.99.
- Incognito
This feature lets its users hide their profiles from everyone on the platform. The user remains hidden until and unless they right swipe another person from their side. This feature lets people see people they are interested in and not get any swipes or matches from the front end. Usually, some people want to remain hidden on dating apps or like to limit visibility because of various issues. This feature provided by both the level of subscription comes to the rescue. Bumble incognito helps fine-tune the search and have total control on the app about who can see our profile. Another feature similar to incognito is the Bumble Snooze. After activating it, there won’t be any potential match; the feature lets users take a break from a new connection and give time to ongoing matches or break from the dating platform.
- Travel
Bumble Travel is a feature of the Bumble Premium Subscription. This feature keeps in consideration the traveling of the people, as humans are rarely stationary. This feature let its user establish their location for at least seven days. The feature is available in all modes of dating, BFF, and Bizz. To opt for Bumble travel separately, the users make a payment of 5 Coins, which costs around $7.99.
- Advanced Filters
Using an advanced filter means having more fine-tuning and control for the profile. Various filters can guide the user to choose a partner more precisely. Education, lifestyle, eating habits, height, education, hobbies, and much more is included in the filter.
- Bumble SuperSwipe
Bumble SuperSwipe is the feature that is available in the premium version; also, users can opt for this service separately. This feature helps its users tell the best potential matches for them using technology that keeps track of our data and records. Users can avail of this feature by just spending just one Bumble Coin. For users who are struggling to get matches, Superswipe is one of the best features. Using AI technology, studies show that the chances of a match increase up to three times using SuperSwipe.
- Badoo Ownership
Bumble took ownership of another company called Badoo, which is also a dating application. Badoo has around 400 million registered users, of which Bumble approached as their target audience. Bumble makes a good amount of money from this app as well.
Making Bumble Public
Bumble, a dating company, made itself public on 2nd February 2021. Initially, the company fixed the share price range for IPO at $28 to $30 per share, but later on, it increased to $37 to $39. Many investors and institutions showed interest in the company’s future and became a part of the company’s future by investing in it. The company listed on NASDAQ with the ticker BMBL and opened at $76 per share, giving its investor a good return. The company’s current market valuation is around 14 billion dollars, making it one of the successful companies in the category of online dating platforms.
Dating Wars
Bumble, as a dating app, has a lot of good competition in the global market. Platforms like Tinder, Match, Hinge, Facebook Dating, and many more are also favored by users. Out of which, Tinder has maximum market share and a good customer base. Starting price to use the Tinder Platform is around $19.99 per month making it the most affordable service in this segment. On the other hand, Bumble was giving tough competition and managed to take its stand in the global market. Unlike Tinder, Bumble’s starting price to use the platform is $24.99 per month. The basic revenue-generating strategy for all the platforms is similar.
Bumble Statistics
The reason for any company’s success is because of the customer base. From 2015 to 2020, Bumble’s users grew from a million to 42 million, which is a great hike. The increase in users helped the company make a good revenue, which a few years back was around 10 million dollars, and in 2019 became 337 million dollars. All this helped the company to make a profit of 110 million dollars in 2020. The revenue shot up mainly because of people who use paid services of Bumble, which was around 1.2 million in 2020, which is growing at a good pace.
Conclusion
Bumble Inc. is a successful company initiated, grown, and led by women. The strategy helped to make the company more women empowered. The company’s business model mainly depends on the freemium model. Still, the revenue generated by the company is through the Software as a Service (SaaS) business model and transaction-based business model. The company is working successfully, making a whopping revenue of 542.2 million dollars in 2020.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is different in Bumble than other dating apps?
The feature of women initiating any conversation after a match makes it different from any other app.
- What is the average revenue generated by a single Bumble User?
The average revenue generated per user is $27.79.
- Do users have to pay separately for Bumble Date, Bizz, and BFF?
No, users don’t have to pay extra differently.
- Does Bumble have an auto-renew feature for its subscription?
Yes, Bumble will auto-renew membership subscriptions unless ended by users.
