Bumble Inc CEO Discusses M&A and AI Opportunities

In Bumble Inc’s Q1 Financial Results Conference Call, the company’s CEO Lidiane Jones discussed opportunities for AI to boost the user experience, and for mergers & acquisitions (M&A) to accelerate growth.

Mergers & acquisitions

In the latest conference call (which can be accessed here), Jones was asked about opportunities for M&A. Bumble Inc has made acquisitions in the past, including dating app Fruitz and relationship platform Official.

When it comes to their strategy, Jones highlighted that M&A represents both business growth, but also opportunities to acquire and integrate new technologies. “We look at the value add of the innovation, just as much as we look at the business”, she shared.

“There’s certainly a lot of interesting technology companies across the industry that we’re constantly looking at, but we immediately look at if it actually aligns and accelerates with our long-term mission here”, she added.

Bumble reported positive revenue growth in its recent Q1 results, with total revenue increasing by 10% when compared with the same period last year. This includes a 11% increase in revenue from the Bumble app.

“[M&A] is something that we look at regularly and because of our strong financial stance, we are able to use that as a leverage to accelerate growth as we identify any opportunities on the market”, Jones shared.

AI and the user experience

Whitney Wolfe Herd, Founder and former CEO of Bumble Inc, made headlines this week after discussing how AI ‘concierges’ may in the future communicate with one another to create compatible connections for human users.

In the conference call, Lidiane Jones addressed the current benefits of AI, saying “…we really believe that our job is not to build AI for the sake of AI. Our job is to help our customers be successful in their journey to find connection”.

She highlighted that AI can add value in a number of areas, including profile creation. With generative AI, “we can make it simpler and easier for customers to build beautiful profiles”, she shared.

How will this work? Users will be able to share “signals” that inform compatibility, and Bumble Inc can use generative AI, AI-powered photo analytics, and more, to build profiles that will evolve as more signals are received.

Beyond just profiles, AI has a place in matching. Jones highlighted that the company has “optimised for matching the past couple years”, and is now looking at “generative AI…to build a premium dating service level of experience”.

Listen to Bumble Inc’s full Q1 Financial Results Conference Call here.