INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Bumble is officially serving the papers in the suit against Tinder parent, Match Group
Bumble had said in March it was filing a suit of $400 million against Match Group for fraudulently obtaining trade secrets, following Match
suit filed only weeks before, which had claimed patent infringement and misuse of intellectual property.
Match original lawsuit said that
Bumble had copied &Tinder world-changing, card-swipe-based, mutual opt-in premise,& and accused Tinder-turned-Bumble employeesChris
Gulczynski and Sarah Mick of copying elements of the design.
Bumble was also founded by CEO Whitney Wolfe, who was also a co-founder at
Tinder and had previouslysued Tinder for sexual harassment.
Following Match suit, Bumble filed a separate action that raised new allegations
It said that when Bumble and Match Group were in acquisition talks, it filed the suit to make Bumble look less attractive to new suitors
Bumble also said that Match Groupfraudulently requested for Bumble to provide &confidential and trade secret information& which Match Group
said they &needed to provide a higher offer for Bumble,& the suit alleged.
Bumble suit also said that no subsequent offer came, and Match
Group instead requested and obtained this information solely for ''the financial benefit of its dating app businesses.
And it said that
Match Group &published false or disparaging information about Bumble, including statements in the press falsely claiming that Bumble
infringed Match intellectual property, as well as false statements in the Lawsuit.
Bumble and Match Group had tried to come to some sort of
settlement over the months since the lawsuits were filed, in hopes of finding another solution outside of having to take their claims to
But with court papers now being served, it appears that not going to be the case.
Match Group has had Bumble on its radar as one of its top
competitors and a threat to its dating app business led by Tinder
It has tried to acquire Bumble twice, and has been turned down
Last year, for example, Match wasin discussions with Bumble over a deal that then valued it at over $1 billion.
In the months since, Bumble
has grown significantly as its business continues to expand outside the United States The company is now available in English-language
countries like Canada, Australia, and the U.K., and is investing in expansions into Germany and Mexico
Latin America andSouth America are also on the roadmap for 2019, and Asia is in the works, as well.
In addition, Bumble has now upped its
revenue run rate to $200 million per year
That doesn''t mean Bumble is making $200 million in 2018, only that it has exceeded its original expectations of $150 million in revenue for
the year.
The revenues come entirely from Bumble in-app subscription business & the app doesn''t run ads.
The app also passed 40 million
users, Wolfe recently noted on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018.
In terms of how this suit will impact Bumble, CEO Whitney Wolfe said,
&we&re focused on our growth
We&re focused on ending misogyny, and we&re actively pursuing an IPO.
