Courting app maker Bumble has acquired Geneva, a web-based platform constructed round forming real-world teams and golf equipment. The corporate stated that the deal is designed to assist it increase its focus from “one-to-one connections to teams and communities” — friendships, in different phrases.
Phrases of the deal were not disclosed, however the announcement comes shortly after Bumble revealed that it would be pursuing acquisitions to drive growth, with CEO Lidiane Jones (who joined Bumble from Slack last year) noting on a latest earnings name that the corporate would think about the “worth add” of an acquisition and the way it would possibly align with its personal enterprise targets.
“There’s definitely loads of attention-grabbing expertise corporations throughout the trade that we’re continuously , however we instantly have a look at if it really aligns and accelerates with our long-term mission right here,” Jones stated on the corporate’s Q1 earnings name this month.
So far, Bumble has flirted with M&A sparingly, snapping up French dating app Fruitz two years in the past followed last year when it doled out $10 million for Official, an app for {couples}.
Buddies shall be buddies
Whereas Bumble is finest identified for its relationship app, the corporate recently indicated that friendships might be a much bigger focus for the corporate transferring ahead, due partly to a broader decline in dating apps which led Bumble to put off 30% of its workforce this year off the again of weak earnings. Bumble already has a separate buddies app constructed round assembly folks domestically, and Geneva builds on that idea.
Based out of New York in 2019, Geneva is all about assembly like-minded folks in a given space, whether or not that’s to type operating golf equipment or meetups to speak in regards to the newest books. The corporate had raised round $36 million from notable backers together with Coatue; Instagram founders Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom; Sequoia’s Michael Moritz; and Patreon co-founder Jack Conte.
In a LinkedIn post this morning, Jones stated the plan transferring ahead shall be to “speed up our friendship product utilizing Geneva’s highly effective expertise platform.” This seems like Geneva will finally be included into Bumble, with Geneva ceasing to function as a standalone platform, however when requested by TheTrendyType, the corporate wouldn’t affirm what would occur subsequent. In a separate post, Geneva stated that it’s going to proceed to assist “your present teams,” and it’s briefly making Geneva invite-only by way of the transition. But it surely’s not clear what is going to occur to Geneva as soon as the acquisition closes, which is anticipated in Q3 2024.
