Bumble seeks almost $6bn valuation in US IPO

Dating app Bumble is aiming for a valuation of nearly $6bn in its initial public offering (IPO) on the US market.

The company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that it would sell about 34.5m shares, raising over $1bn, which was at the upper end of its targeted range.

Bumble, which is unique among dating apps for letting women make the first move, is seeking to cash in on a time when the IPO market is at its strongest in over 20 years.

Companies raised a record $168bn through IPOs on stock exchanges worldwide in 2020, according to data from Dealogic.

In 2019, private equity giant Blackstone took a majority stake in Bumble, valuing the firm at around $3bn, according to PitchBook.

The company filed for an IPO confidentially in 2020 and was planning to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol 'BMBL'.

The app saw swift uptake in the two years after it was founded in 2014 but has seen a fall in users due to Covid-19. The pandemic has caused most people to stay at home and practise social distancing.

It had 42m monthly active users in Q3 of 2020, and 2.4m paying users in the nine months ended September.