Dating app Bumble sold for $1.3 billion

However, the dating app business is in deep crisis. Bumble, like its larger rival Match, which owns Tinder and Hinge, is struggling with declining user numbers. Generation Z in particular is looking for love offline more often than online.

New co-heads for Bumble

Last week the company was only worth around $340 million. Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, who was once involved in the creation of Tinder, tried to give women the main role at Bumble: only they were allowed to start conversations on the app. This restriction was dropped in August. And the company tried a lot more to improve the business: from price hikes, longer timelines for responding to queries, to AI tools to help users compose messages.

The buyer Ithaca Holdings is backed by, among others, John Hegeman, a former top manager of the Facebook group Meta. Ithaca says its goal is to invest in companies that enrich people's lives in a world transformed by artificial intelligence. Hegeman and Ithaca co-founder Ravi Gupta will become co-heads of Bumble, according to a statement from the companies.

According to the BBC, founder Herd said she would remain “actively involved” in the company despite the takeover. After the takeover plans became known, the share price rose sharply, increasing the company's valuation to more than 580 million euros. Bumble recently had around 3.2 million paying users.