BUMBLE INVESTING IN WOMEN’S STARTUPS
Bumble, known for its femalefriendly dating app, is launching an investment fund to back female-founded and female-led businesses.
The Austin-based company said Wednesday that it has invested in five companies so far.
“There’s plenty of data that shows startups led by women outperform their male-founded counterparts, growing faster and producing more revenue,” the company said in a post on Medium. “Still, a staggering gender gap persists in the world of venture capital.”
The company, which has an 85 percent female workforce, said it is launching Bumble Fund “to help women largely ignored by the venture capital establishment.”
Bumble Fund will focus on early stage investments, primarily in businesses founded and led by women of color and underrepresented groups.
Bumble’s chief operating officer Sarah Jones Simmer will lead Bumble Fund’s investment strategy along with senior adviser Sarah Kunst, managing director of Cleo Capital. Cleo Capital, based in Santa Monica, Calif., describes itself as a diverse female led preseed venture capital fund.
Bumble has committed more than $1 million to the fund and will make investments from $5,000 to $250,000, according to Forbes.
The Bumble app, which has 37 million users, functions similarly to dating app Tinder — users swipe left or right to indicate their preferences. The difference with Bumble is that only women are allowed to start a conversation with someone on the app.
Bumble was founded in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd, who previously worked for dating app Tinder. Wolfe Herd left in 2012 after alleging sexual discrimination. The suit was settled.
In March, Tinder’s parent company, Match Group, filed a lawsuit against Bumble accusing it of patent infringement and stealing trade secrets. Bumble filed a countersuit seeking $400 million in damages from Match Group.