Dating app Bumble prices $2.15B IPO at $43 per share

The shares were set to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Thursday under the symbol "BMBL".

San Francisco, Feb 11 (IANS) Dating app Bumble, backed by actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas, was expected to raise $2.15 billion in its IPO, at $43 per share, on Thursday.

Bumble has announced the pricing of its IPO of 50 million Class A shares at a revised price to the public of $43 per share.

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The shares were set to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Thursday under the symbol “BMBL”.

The company with $8.2 billion market valuation earlier planned to sell 45 million shares for $37 to $39.

Bumble filed to go public in mid-January, and offered up its first price range on February 2.

Bumble said in a statement that it intends to use the proceeds from the issuance of 9 million shares to repay a portion of its senior secured term loan facilities and for general corporate purposes, and to bear the expenses of the offering.

“Bumble intends to use the proceeds from the issuance of 41 million shares (or 48.5 million shares if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock) to purchase or redeem an equivalent aggregate number of outstanding equity interests from certain entities affiliated with Blackstone,” the statement read.

The offering is expected to close on February 16, 2021.

Bumble is the parent company of Badoo and Bumble, two of the world’s highest-grossing dating apps with millions of users worldwide.

Bumble faces competition from the Tinder and Hinge.

Last year, tennis star Serena Williams joined Priyanka as an investor of the social and dating app.

Founded by CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2014, the Bumble app is one of the first dating apps built with women at the centre, and the Badoo app, which was founded in 2006, is one of the pioneers of web and mobile dating products.

Bumble currently employs over 600 people in offices in Austin in the US, Barcelona, London and Moscow.