Stock Groups

Bumble buys French dating app Fruitz in its first-ever acquisition

[ad_1]

Whitney Wolfe Herd is the founder and CEO at Bumble.

Getty Images

BumbleIt announced Monday that it was acquiring FruitzIt marks its first acquisition, the French dating app.

These terms were not disclosed.

Fruitz, which was established in 2017, “encourages openness and honesty in dating intentions.” It uses four different metaphors to describe its users. Bumble did not comment on Fruitz’s user base, but stated that it has seen rapid growth in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Fruitz operates on the freemium model most dating app companies use. Users can get the app for no cost and add-ons to enhance their experience. Bumble, the flagship dating app has additional features like it. premium serviceFor $39.99 per month

Bumble stated that Fruitz boasts a large user base of Gen Z, a group defined as those born between 1995-2015. This could be a key to the company’s growth goals.

Although dating apps have become more common than ever before, experts believe there is much room for improvement.

“Over the last few years online dating has evolved to be the most common way for people to meet & date in many geographies. In a recent note, Goldman Sachs said that despite online dating becoming more popular, the penetration rates of this industry have been low. This means there is still plenty of room for growth.

Piper Sandler stated in January that the worldwide online dating market will grow by 13% annually over the next few years to nearly $10 billion by 2025. Matthew Farrell, an analyst added that the international market will outgrow North American markets.

One way companies can tap into this market is to expand their apps beyond the old “swipe Left” and “swipe Right” model.

Bumble is one of the many companies that we recommend. MatchHinge added new features like audio, video and other experiences to its apps. This allows people to communicate in an entirely new way with online dating. It’s hoped that people will use the apps more often and spend more money on them.

Bumble’s flagship app now includes sections for friendship and business, in the hope that platonic relationships could be the next frontier for social growth.

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

[ad_2]