Bumble Founder Becomes The Youngest Female Self Made Billionaire
Bumble Founder Becomes The Youngest Female Self Made Billionaire. There are many young female billionaires in the world but most of them cannot say that they are self made. Most of these billionaires either inherit large fortunes form their families and then rise to the billionaire status as the company grows. This young female entrepreneur is different in that she created all her fortune through the companies that she built from the ground up.
Whitney Wolfe Herd (32) became the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire after taking Bumble public and its IPO shares soared. She also became the youngest woman to take a company public. Forbes estimated her net worth at approximately $1.5 billion after Bumble’s stock closed at $70.31 per share during its first day on the public market. The company’s success landed her on Forbes list of America’s most successful women entrepreneurs and executives in 2020. She is also a 30 Under 30 honoree. However, her journey into the digital dating scene didn’t start with Bumble. In fact, prior to her start with the multibillion-dollar company, she co-founded its biggest competitor: Tinder.
Wolfe Herd became vice president of marketing for Tinder. She was reportedly behind the name of the app, taking inspiration from the flame logo and the idea of tinder, which is easily combustible material used to start a fire. She has also been credited with fueling its popularity on college campuses and growing its user base. Wolfe Herd left the company in 2014 due to growing tensions with other company executives. After leaving the company, Wolfe Herd filed a lawsuit against Tinder for sexual harassment. She reportedly received more than $1 million plus stock as part of a settlement.
In December 2014, Wolfe Herd founded Bumble, a female-focused dating app. By December 2015, the app had reached over 15 million conversations and 80 million matches. After Wolfe Herd left Tinder, Andrey Andreev, founder of Badoo contacted her about creating a dating platform and partnered with her, and the company remains majority owned by Badoo.
In February 2021, Bumble topped $13 billion in valuation after listing shares on the Nasdaq exchange.
