Last Updated on October 5, 2021 by bumble
Bumble is an app that bills itself as “A social and dating app where only women can send the first message” which recently filed for its IPO. However, there are plenty of reasons not to invest in Bumble’s IPO, which we will explore in this post.
Bumble is limiting its IPO to just six people or entities, but you can buy shares on the open market after it IPOs. This seems like an attempt to create scarcity so they can hype up their stock prices at the expense of smaller investors who don’t have enough money or connections to be able to invest in Bumble’s company when they go public.
So what are some reasons why I should not invest in Bumble?
1. Bumble makes no money: As we explored in our post “Worst Tech IPO of 2018” Bumble is an app that charges for premium features and has made no profit since it was founded (in 2014) and is not expected to make profits in the next two years.
2. Bumble’s business model doesn’t make sense: Bumble wants to replace people who are paid by dating sites to match users with each other with an algorithm to do the same job. Apply some math, and the economics of this don’t make sense.
3. Bumble isn’t technologically innovative: Bumble is unable to leverage its technology to innovate new products (e.g. turning the app into a dating site). It’s more likely that they’ll find it harder to find suitable bankers for their deal than actually build something innovative.
4. Bumble doesn’t have great growth potential: Bumble can’t grow any further unless they build on top of more dating sites that already work well, which is difficult but not impossible.
5. Bumble’s main competitor is Tinder: Bumble wants to be more than just a dating app and wants to replace people who get paid by dating sites to match users with each other with an algorithm to do the same job. Bumble is competing with the most successful dating site in the world, Tinder, that has been around for 10 years and has raised almost $800 million from venture capitalists.
6. Bumble’s competitors in the dating space: Bumble is competing against companies like Match Group, Google and Facebook in the dating space, which is a difficult place to compete in.
7. I don’t like Bumble’s attitude toward smaller users: The company seems like it doesn’t really care about small investors who can only buy stock on the open market after their IPO because they make no money off of small investors. Instead, they want to leave this market for people with more resources and connections than I have (or most people do).
- They rip off their customers.
These are just a few reasons that you should not invest in Bumble. Read our other articles to find out more reasons to steer clear!