Dating apps and other social friend-finding apps are in the spotlight: Dating app giant Bumble is considering more acquisitions. The company said on Wednesday's first-quarter earnings call that it plans to use M&A “opportunistically” to better prioritize inorganic growth.
Unlike rival Match, which has historically dominated popular dating app brands left and right, Bumble hasn't been very aggressive in pursuing growth through M&A. Its first acquisition was French dating app Fruititz in February 2022, followed by the acquisition of couples app Official in 2023 for $10 million. Neither of them are becoming the next Tinder, to put it kindly.
Bumble now says it will consider acquiring other businesses that align with its growth goals. Specifically, CFO Anu Subramanian said in a conference call that the company, under new leadership (CEO Lydiaan Jones joined Bumble from Slack late last year), will discuss how M&A will take place at Bumble. He said he would set “an even higher bar” for his goals. To invest in acquisitions that drive inorganic growth.
Jones said in a follow-up that Bumble will consider the “value-add” of the technology the acquisition brings as much as the business. In other words, Bumble may acquire smaller apps if they're doing something particularly innovative that they can leverage or invest in. Although she gave no indication that the company was considering specific geographies, market segments, or use cases.
“There are certainly a lot of interesting technology companies in the industry that we're always looking at, but we'll quickly consider whether that actually aligns with and accelerates our long-term mission here.” said Jones. This seems to set a wide stage for potential candidates.
Bumble reported a strong first quarter, easily beating analysts' average estimates for both profit and revenue. The company reported net income of 19 cents per share for the quarter on revenue of $267.8 million. Analysts had expected earnings of 7 cents per share and revenue of $265.5 million.
The company also touted a revamp to its flagship dating app last week that allows women to choose from pre-written questions that their matches can answer instead of sending messages themselves. . Additionally, Bumble reiterated its broader plans for BFFs, which it envisions as a way to help Gen Z users find friends.
Jones also touched on the company's plans to use generative AI, saying the technology could help in areas such as creating profiles, understanding customer intent, supporting trust and safety, and improving matches. It pointed out.
“…Our job as we look at generative AI is to build a premium dating service level experience, where we take a closer approach to supporting you throughout the dating journey. ” Jones added. “So after a customer goes on a date, we can receive more signals, but we can automatically enhance profile creation without the customer going back on the date,” she said. Ta.