• by Colin Kirkland , Yesterday

Facing mounting difficulties in the online dating market, Bumble -- the app where women send the first message to match -- has been acquired by new owner Ithaca Holdings for $1.3 billion and will soon become a private company. 

According to the company’s announcement, Bumble’s board of directors “unanimously approved the transaction,” excluding founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, “who recused herself from the Board’s deliberations and voting on the matter.”

Originally founded in 2014, Bumble went public in 2021, valued at around $15 billion. 

However, over the past five years, the company’s worth has plummeted. In 2025, Bumble’s first quarter report showed an 8% decrease in revenue year-over-year and a loss of 2.7 million users, spurring the company to lay off about 30% of its employees. 

In its most recent quarterly report, Bumble’s revenue fell 15.2% year-over-year, with its subscriber base falling 16.4%, or 3.2 million paying users. 

Moving forward, Bumble will become a private company led by Ithaca co-CEOs, Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman. 

Gupta – former Sequoia Capital partner and Instacart/Meta executive – founded Ithaca Holdings with Hegeman – former Meta Chief Revenue Officer – earlier this year as a technology investment and holdings company.  

Gupta  and Hegeman plan to work with Herd to “extend Bumble’s original vision,” per a joint statement.

“I will remain actively involved with Bumble,” Herd said in a statement. “I look forward to working alongside Ravi, John, and the Bumble team.”

Per the acquisition, Bumble will operate in offices across London, Austin and New York City and is expected to remain based in Austin.

Bumble’s deal comes at a time when online dating platforms are struggling. Over the past few years, Match Group has reported declines in the total number of paying users across its apps – Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid.

A recent Harris Poll shows that two-thirds of single people in the U.S. aren’t on dating apps at all, with 56% of respondents calling app meetups “cringe,” and 72% saying dating apps have made the process of dating feel more transactional than romantic.