City profiles

Whitney Wolfe “Whitney Wolfe is the perfect first date,” says Alice Fishburn in the FT: a keen, generous conversationalist. But that’s no surprise: she is “the high priestess of dating”. In 2012, Whitney co-founded Tinder, “the app that revolutionised millennial relationships”, before quitting two years later “in a swirl of sexual harassment allegations”. She then launched Bumble, “the matchmaking app of choice for 13 million people and counting”. All this and she’s not yet 28. Many of Bumble’s customers are “young hipsters attracted by its feminist credentials”: the app insists its female users make the first move. This has highlighted interesting cultural differences in target markets. In the US, Bumble is “strongly associated with empowered women”. In Britain, “some moan that it just caters to lazy men”.