Dating apps and other social friend trackers take note: Dating app giant Bumble is looking to make more acquisitions. The company said during its first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday that it plans to use mergers and acquisitions “opportunistically” to help it better prioritize inorganic growth.
Unlike its competitor, Match, which has historically snapped up popular dating app brands left and right, Bumble hasn’t been very active in pursuing growth through M&A. Its first acquisition was French dating app Fruitz in February 2022. followed by a couples app, Officialin 2023 for 10 million dollars. Neither has become the next Tinder, to put it politely.
Now, Bumble says it will look to acquire other businesses that align with its growth goals. Specifically, CFO Anu Subramanian said on the call that the company, now under new leadership (CEO Lidiane Jones joined Bumble from Slack late last year), will set an “even higher bar” for what the acquisition looks like and the Bumble acquisition and its goals. for investments in acquisitions that lead to inorganic growth.
In a follow-up, Jones said Bumble would look at the “added value” of technology that an acquisition would bring as much as its business. In other words, it can get a smaller app if it does something particularly innovative that Bumble could use in its apps or invest in. However, he gave no indication that the company was looking at specific geographies, market segments or use cases.
“There are certainly a lot of interesting technology companies across the industry that we’re looking at all the time, but we’re looking right away at whether it really aligns and accelerates with our long-term mission here,” Jones said. This seemingly sets a broad framework for potential candidates.
Bumble reported a strong first quarter, handily beating analysts’ average expectations for both earnings and revenue. The company reported net income of 19 cents per share and revenue of $267.8 million in the quarter. Analysts had estimated earnings of 7 cents per share and revenue of $265.5 million.
The company also touted last week a revamp of its flagship dating app, which now lets women choose from pre-set questions that their matches can answer instead of having to send matches themselves. Additionally, Bumble spoke again about its broader plans for BFF, which it envisions as a way to help Gen Z users find friends.
Jones also addressed the company’s plans to use genetic artificial intelligence, noting that the technology could help in areas such as profiling, understanding customer intent, enhancing trust and security, improving matches and more. but.
“…our job, as we look at genetic AI, is to create a level of high-quality dating service experience where we really take a more intimate approach to support you throughout your entire dating journey,” Jones added. “So even when we get more messages for our clients once they’re dating, we can still automatically increase their profile creation without them having to come back,” he said.
